Love Like This
by fairydust26
Summary: "don't find love, let love find you. that's why it's called falling in love. because you don't push yourself to fall, you just fall" That time when Theresa Kane and Clay Spenser fell for each other without meaning to. Clay Spenser x OC.
1. Chapter One : The First And Second Time

AUTHOR'S NOTE: yes, yes, I know female Navy SEAL's aren't allowed but this is fanfiction, so if you don't like it, then just leave. Also, no StellaxClay. Cause, just, no.

**SEAL TEAM**

**Chapter One : The First And Second Time**

The first time Clay Spenser saw Theresa Kane, he was sitting in the cafeteria, across from Brian Armstrong, talking about a football game. She walked into the room and he couldn't take his eyes of her. She was and still is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. She was walking to a table, dressed in miltary attire - which meant that she worked here on base, with a killer glare on her face. Her hands was shoved into her pockets and there was an air of danger rolling of her in waves.His eyebrows rose when he saw her sit down with Bravo Team. He heard whispers that there is a woman on Bravo Team but didn't think it was true. Female SEAL's were a rarity in and of itself and he's never seen one himself. And even if it was, how did a girl as breathtakingly beautiful and short as that - who looked like a real handful if she wanted to be - end up on Jason Hayes team?

Clay watched as the killer glare slowly faded from her face and a smile and later a laugh took it's place as she started stealing fries of the plate from the main man, Jason Hayes, himself. The Master Chief gave her a reprimanding look but the bun-tied, dark haired woman just gave him an innocent smile. Clay was once again taken by surprise when Hayes just deflated and pushed the plate forward and she took it with a gleeful smile.

The second time Clay Spenser saw Theresa Kane was in SEAL physical training. It was more intense and more gruelling than that of a normal Navy Sailor or an Army Soldier. That was also when he learnt her name.

"You're late." Master Chief Adam Siever reprimanded with a disapproving look on his face when she finally arrived.

She gave him an smug, yet sincerely apologetic smile, "Sorry, Sir, the curls weren't co-operating this morning." With one hand, she gestured to her head. Siever just sighed defeatedly and gestured to the group of cadets. He didn't know how Hayes put up with her sometimes.

"Good morning, cadets. My name is Lieutenant Commander Theresa Kane, but you can all just call me, Four. Most people do." Before he could stop himself, Clay's hand went up. She looked at him and he face felt hot with embarresment and a tinge of something else. "Yes?"

"Why do they call you 'Four'?" He asked, eternally grateful and relieved that his words came out steady.

"Because I have a short temper and I explode like the forth of July." She spoke bluntly, shrugging before adverting her gaze. The blonde's gaze was to intense for some reason. "Okay, moving on, I will be helping with your physical training and-" A scoff coming from one of the trainee's stopped the female SEAL short. Eyes narrowing on where the sound was heard from, the woman narrowed her eyes. "Does someone have a problem with that?"

One guy met her steel-like gaze, jutting his chin out defiantly. "Yeah. Girls aren't supposed to be SEAL's."

"Well, I'm not a girl. I'm a twenty-three year old woman." She responded easily. Then she tilted her head. "Why don't you come over here, speak to me face to face?" She challenged and the guy did. He stood up and walked until he was not more than five feet from her.

Clay wondered if this guy had a death wish or was just plain stupid. By now, they all knew that the female SEAL, the only one, was on Bravo Team. And Bravo was one team you didn't mess with as they were well known for being fiercely protective of their own.

The SEAL-in-training looked down at Theresa with clear distaste. It didn't bother her, she didn't have much of a liking for him either. "Still, woman, girls, you're all the same. You're weak and you slow everything down."

Theresa raised her eyebrows, she could feel the rage bubbling beneath the surface as her fingers started itching to hit something. "So, because I have a vagina, I shouldn't be allowed to fight for my country? To protect her and her citizens from whatever threats are out there?"

"No, you shouldn't. You should just let us men do it. You're not qualifi-" He didn't get to finish that sentence because the female SEAL exploded. Theresa stepped forward and punched him. A crunch sound was heard right before the trainee fell on his ass, blood pouring from his nose. The whole of Green Team was surprised and watched the clearly infuriated Lady SEAL with wariness.

"I am just as qualified as the rest of my team to be a United States Navy SEAL. I trained and worked my ass of for two and a half years to be a SEAL, just like everyone else. So, say what you will, call me what you will but if you call me unqualified again, I will put you in the hospital." She took a deep breath. "Understand?"

He nodded, fear shining in his eyes. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good." She gave him a fake smile. Then she looked back to the rest of the trainee's and went back to her previous words as if nothing happened.

But something did happen. Well, two things happened.

One - they all learned that Lieutenant Commander Theresa Kane, also known as Four, is, woman or not, one hell of a force to be rekconed with.

And two - Clay Spenser fell head over heels in love with a woman that was not just absolutely and very far out of his reach, but also out of his league.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

What do you think? Should I write more?


	2. Chapter Two : Out of The Past

**Chapter Two : Out of The Past**

Theresa Kane let her eyes glance over the Green Team. When Adam first asked her to teach them hand-to-hand combat, she refused. They were fully trained Naval Officers and were more than capable of fighting. Then the man pointed out that SEAL's need extra and even more training than normal Navy Officer's. She refused. Then he pointed out that when she faced each of her team members one on one, she beat them all. She refused. He tried the angle of her being young enough for them to relate to her. She refused again.

Teaching and ordering isn't her forte.

Then again, neither is following orders. There is only two people in the whole of the Navy whose orders she took without hesitance. Admiral's and higher ranking offical's wanted to pull their hair out when they had to talk with her or reprimand her. She quickly gained a reputation amongst them while still in Green Team - them being the high ranking and suited shot callers that didn't know what it was like on the ground - as a strong willed pain in the ass with a shorter temper than Bravo team member Sonny Quinn.

For a brief moment, they considered discharging her from service. That idea flew out as quickly as it came along when they saw her in a hand-to-hand fight with one Jason Hayes. They all knew that she and Hayes had known each other long before she enlisted in the Navy. They also thought since he is the only person that her killer glare faded around, that she would go easy on him.

They thought wrong. With in twenty seconds, she had Hayes down and pinned to the ground with her elbow on his adam's apple, ready and able to kill him on the spot. What they didn't know, was that she would never do it. They did know, however, that someone as lethal and dangerous as Theresa Kane, wouldn't be discharged because she told a few higher-ups to suck it.

So, it was decided. The second she graduated Green team, she would be placed on Bravo team. The moment that Jason was informed of the news, he grinned as if he was told he won the lotto. It turned out to be a pretty good move on their part too, seeing as she fit in with Bravo like the last missing puzzle piece.

She was still a pain in the ass to anyone other than Jason Hayes when it came to taking orders, but at least Theresa followed someone's orders. They were all grateful for that. Then, about half a year into her joining Bravo, she was comfortable with the rest of her team mates and trusted them as much as she trusted Jason.

But she only followed orders given by Jason.

Then, one day, the unthinkable happened. They were in an abandoned building, filled with crates and barrels and bones while the floor was a suspicious red colour as they waited for their transportation to arrive. Several gunmen arrived at their location and every exit was covered. Theresa swore, this was supposed to be an extraction mission for two American civillian's in Sudan that was later revealed to be CIA.

Jason saw the grenade coming through the window while Theresa was shooting at four hostiles that was coming their way. The Master Chief laid unconsious on the ground after he covered Theresa from the force of grenade. Kane was completely and totally lost. Her leader and the only person who's orders she followed was down. She didn't know what to do.

Then Lieutenant Commander Eric Blackburn talked her down from running towards the enemy with her guns blazing. He told her to check for a pulse and Theresa's knees would have gave way in relief if she wasn't already kneeling next to Jason when she felt the faint, but steady thumping of Jason's pulse beneath her index and middle fingers.

It was only after the mission, when they were on the plane back home with the two CIA Agents safely with them, that she realised something. They were all hovering around Jason's hamock, who had woken up on the way back to the Base where they were operating from in Sudan with a terrible headache. Between Sonny's teasing and laughter filling the plane while Hayes was awake, Theresa slowly began to relax.

"I thought for sure Tessa was gonna have at them when you went down." Sonny commented with a smirk.

Theresa answered before thinking, "Well, there's still Eric to keep me line, but thanks for the concern, Quinn."

She went back to sipping her beer, not noticing the wide eyed looks she was getting from everyone on her team. Especially Blackburn. Jason looked at her with a proud smile, it might have taken her three years of being trained and another six months on Bravo, but she's finally learned how to take orders from someone other than himself.

Two years later, she still hasn't learned how to take orders from people other than Blackburn and Hayes, much to the disappointment of, well, everyone that wanted her on their team. Theresa Kane is one hell of a warrior and addition to your team - if you could get her to follow your orders, which everyone failed.

That is why Adam Siever had no choice but to go and practically beg Blackburn to ask Theresa to help with the physcial combat class. They don't know where she learned how to fight the way she did, it certainly wasn't in the Navy because she already had her skills when she signed up. When asked, she only gives a sarcastic or snarky comment before telling the person - regardless if they are superior to her - to fuck off. And when they asked Hayes - because he knows everything about her, so he knew where she was taught - he told them to ask Theresa herself.

It took some time, but Eric finally got a yes from Theresa. On the condition that she would choose when she wanted to teach. She didn't want to spend all of the time she was home on the Base. As much as she loves her work, she does want her some time away from all of the testosterone.

And that is the story of how she ended up teaching the damned Greenies in the first place. There was real potential here, but she could also see who would drop out of the program. Some were to cocky, some were mentally to weak to handle the pressure and some where just not good enough. Sad as it was to say, it didn't make it any less true.

For some it was the swimming 500 yards in 12 minutes and 30 seconds and for others it was the last trail, the capture and interogating scenario or just the pressure of SEAL training as a whole. Whatever it was, the female SEAL felt sympathy for each one who couldn't handle it, even if she would never show it outwardly. Theresa didn't judge or pick on whoever she thought wouldn't make it or when someone dropped out. SEAL training is hard. So hard, she almost dropped out in week 20 of 26 during SEAL Qualification training herself.

Shaking her head and coming out of the past and back into the present, she took a deep breath before instructing the Green Team what they were going to do today. Watching them as they fought, she spotted one guy pulling a dirty move on his partner. She hid a smirk and memorised his face. Yes, pulling a dirty move isn't what they were taught to do, but Theresa knew from personal experience that sometimes the only survival option you had, is fighting dirty.

Still, she had to reprimand the Greenie.

Walking to the duo, Kane masked the fact that she was actually impressed with the move she pulled. "Stop." She called and the two immediately stopped fighting. "What are your names?"

"Brian Armstrong, Sir, um, Ma'am." The dark haired one answered, looking slightly confused, both of them standing up straight with their hands behind their backs respectfully.

She hid a smile. "Either is fine." Then she turned to the blonde. The one who pulled the dirty move. She recognised him as the one who asked her why they call her Four. "And you?"

"Clay Spenser, Ma'am." And he looked so nervous, almost as if he was about to faint from nerves.

"Pulling a move like that is fine in the field, but this isn't the field, so if you do it again, you will be doing suicide runs and extra push-ups for the rest of your training. Understood?" She asked, her voice taking on a steel-like tone.

"Understood, Ma'am." He nodded, adverting his eyes in favour of looking down at his boots.

"Good." She nodded and turned around. Then she turned back to the pair, "Spenser?" Theresa called and his eyes locked on hers. She was once again stunned by how intense those clear blue pools were.

"Yes?" He asked politely, looking half-afraid and thinking that she was going to punish him for pulling the move in the first place.

Her ice cold expression softened ever so slightly. "Good job."

Then she turned back around and walked away, leaving Clay smiling like a fool because of the compliment.

Brian leaned closer to him and made kissing noises in his ears, he is well aware of Spenser's feelings for the Lieutenant Commander and isn't above teasing Clay about it. He shoved Brian away from him, laughing lightly with flaming cheeks. "That would never happen."

"Who knows? Maybe you can melt the Ice Queen's heart." The brunette said optimistically, teasing grin on his face, and Spenser snorted. From what they've heard around the base, Four is even colder now than she was when she was in SEAL-training. The blonde decided not to loose any sleep over it, he knew it was impossible. Apart from the fact that she wouldn't be interested, it was also against the rules.

Clay bit down on his bottom lip. There is nothing wrong with looking, right?

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

A little bit of back story on our LadySEAL. Hope ypu guys enjoyed!


	3. Chapter Three : The Great and Mighty

**Chapter Three : The Great and Mighty**

Theresa let her eyes flicker around the shrink's office. She really didn't want to be here. Having your feelings and life poked at by someone who had no idea what it was like, made Theresa on edge, snappy and more unco-operative than usual. She ran a hand through her freshly cut hair. Long enough to be tied in a pony tail but short enough not to bother her, her hair reached just past her collar bone now instead of her waist.

"What would you like to talk about?" Doctor Julie Kruger asked after an extended period of silence.

"Not much of a talker." Theresa shrugged, propping her feet up on the doctors glass coffee table. She saw the shrink tense and smirked. Pushing people's buttons is a habit of hers.

"Must be hard to be a woman on an all male team." Julie said, looking for a reaction from the SEAL. She couldn't read her, well she could, but only what Theresa wanted her to see. That she is bored her and would like to leave.

"Not really." Theresa shook her head. "They treat me with respect and trust me as much as anyone on our team."

"What about others?" Julie pressed, still looking for something from Theresa. She didn't know what, but anything other than seemingly never ending boredom would be considered a break through.

"Others?" The female SEAL echoed, not understanding.

"Fellow members of the Navy." The doctor elaborated.

"I'm sure your fancy but heavily redacted file on me has told you that I'm a stubborn hot-heated with the tendancy to ignore authority figures. That in and of itself should give you the answer to that question." Theresa gave her a coy smirk.

"I've heard that you only respond to orders Lieutenant Commander Eric Blackburn and Master Chief Hayes." Julie noted as she drew a flower on the paper infront of her - it's not like Theresa was giving her anything to write.

"So?" Theresa rose her eyebrows in question.

"Why is that?"

"Because their my superior's." The SEAL deadpanned.

"Not five seconds ago, you said that you have a tendancy to ignore authority figures." The doctor reminded her.

Theresa huffed in frustration, "That's different."

"Different how?" Doctor Kruger pressed.

"Because unlike those cake eating morons, Jason and Eric knows me. They know my habits, they know what ticks me off, my likes, dislikes, hell, Jason even knows everytime I have a headache without me ever having to tell him. Because I trust them and only them, to have my back."

"So, you don't trust your team?"

"Did I say that?" Theresa growled, glaring at the woman.

"You said you only trust Commander Blackburn and Chief Hayes." Julie reminded her, feeling more than a little frustrated. Therexsa Kane is going to give her a head full of grey hair before the day is over.

Theresa rolled her eyes, huffing at the doctor. "I meant as C.O's." She eyed the shrink. "And if I didn't trust my team, then I wouldn't be able to work with them."

"So, you do trust them?" Julie asked, because she had to be sure.

"With my life." Theresa answered without hesitance, nodding her head firmly.

"I find it interesting that you call both Commander Blackburn and Chief Hayes by their first names." The doctor pointed out, looking at her penasively.

"What does any of this have to do with why I'm here?" Theresa answered her question with a question, body tensed and ready to bolt at any second. She was tired of people questioning her unwavering loyalty to Jason over and over again. She could understand why, they don't know what Jason did for her, but that didn't give them the right to question it.

Seeing that Theresa was getting ready to flee, Julie changed her line of questioning. "Why is your file redacted?"

"What little they know about me, they prefer to keep to themselves." The SEAL shrugged simply.

"What do you mean?" The shrink frowned at her patient.

"Just what I said." Theresa shrugged.

"You have a way with words, Miss Kane." Doctor Kruger said and neither woman knew if that was a compliment or an insult. Theresa choose to taked it as the former. "I need to ask you some questions."

"Go ahead, Doc, I'm an open book." She spread her arms with a smile. Julie resisted the urge to snort out loud because while Theresa is a great many things, an open book is not one of them.

The shrink hesitated for a long while, "How do you feel about Nate's death?"

The smile dropped from her face and her eyes turned into stone. "Next question."

SEAL TEAM

The whole of Bravo was at Landon Massey's first communion. Now, Theresa didn't like kids at all and never wanted them herself, but it was a show of support to Molly, who was actually a really great lady. After the service was over, they didn't have to wait long until Landon appeared. Church bells was tolling when Jason spotted him.

"Aha! Look at that, ladies and gentlemen, our First Communicant, Landon Massey." The leader of Bravo said with a wide smile. "Come here, buddy." He picked up the boy. "Ah, bud!" Jason held his fist out to him, "Hey, blow it up."

"All right, buddy, look, you just enjoy it while you can, okay? 'Cause in a few years, you want a sip of wine, you're gonna have to start copping to Father about all your sins." Lisa Davis said with a grin, reaching out to touch Landon.

"Maybe not all of them." Sonny Quinn said, grin on his face and sunglasses protecting his eyes.

"You would know, right?" Theresa teased, but got a smirk and a nod from the Texan.

They watched as Jason set down Landon and walked over to Alana and Ray. Sonny tilted his head at them. "Wanna bet on how long it's gonna take them to get back together?"

"I don't bet on such things. It's bad luck." She glared up at the big man as Lisa snorted and Ray walked over to them.

"I only ask cause your the one who's known them since forever." Sonny defended himself. Lord knows, the girl has a shorter temper than him.

"I've known them since I was fourteen. That hardly counts as forever." Theresa rolled her eyes.

"And how exactly is it that you know them again?" Sonny questioned as Lisa and Ray listened in, just in case Theresa finally decided to answer that question.

"Nice try." She deadpanned.

"Worth a shot." He grinned down at her just as phone's started ringing and buzzing. Even without pulling her phone out of the pocket of her emerald green dress, Theresa knew Bravo was being called in for a mission briefing.

SEAL TEAM

Their target is Abu Samir Al Masri, a high-level ISIL commander, responsible for dozens of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq. According to Amanda Ellis from the CIA - who Theresa didn't like her very much because of an mission gone bad - over the last several months, they've had sightings of Samir throughout Central Africa, meeting with various local jihadi leaders. According to CIA intel, he's due to sit down with some guys from Boko Haram in two days in Liberia because Abu Samir doesn't trust Boko enough to meet on their own turf and General Lionheart is guaranteeing security for both sides at his compound outside Monrovia, Liberia. Meaning, that is where Bravo was headed.

Mandy said that they've got 24-hour drone surveillance on the place and they would let them know the second Samir's on-site. The mission is to capture not kill him. Something which left a sour taste in Theresa's mouth because she would love to stick her knife in his throat or put a bullet in his forehead. But, it wasn't her decision. Unfortunately.

Right now, however, she was watching as that blonde Spenser guy with the intense blue eyes ran through a hostage rescue scenario. She was standing next to Jason, who was in the middle of her and ray.

"I have a question." She said softly. Jason and Ray exchanged a glance as they waited for her to ask her question. "Why are you wearing helmets and protective glasses inside?"

"Because it's the rules." Jason deadpanned.

"Right, because the great and mighty Jason Hayes always follows the rules." Theresa gave him a pointed look, crossing her arms over her chest as Ray snickered and Jason rolled his eyes at her.

"Where is your helmet and glasses?" The Master Chief retorted.

"In my cage." This time, Theresa rolled her eyes at Jason before going back to watching the training scenario. She watched a big dude come into the room where Spenser was in. The blonde was so focused on the male that he didn't see the woman pulled out a gun to him. The female SEAL winced for his part and continued answering her Boss. "My helmet I wear on missions that require it but the glasses are still a fifty-fifty depending on the weather. We are inside a secure building right now, which means, there is not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm going to wear it."

"You should worry about your hostage 'cause you dead." The big dude said to Spenser.

"Hold there! It appears we have a problem, Mr. Spenser." Big Chief said and the conversation between Jason and Theresa ended.

"Big problem, Big Chief." Spenser agreed, looking up at the higher ups. He concealed a smile when he spotted Lieutenant Commander Four, as everyone on Green Team called her.

"For you and me, both. Matter of fact, mine might be the bigger problem. See, you get taken in the prime of your life while you still have your hair. I have to live the rest of my life with these fellas whispering behind my back how I got you killed on account of I went easy. What do you think of that?" Big Chief asked the cocky Greenie.

"I think the name Big Chief is meant to be ironic." The blonde retorted easily.

"How's that now?" The kid is cocky, sure, but at least he's not Theresa Kane. All this grey hair, it was from her time in Green Team. Stubborn and questioning everything at every twist and turn and blatantly telling everyone and their mother when she didn't like something. He used to get so angry with her. Until one day, when she was running laps around the base for talking back to a visiting Admiral. He stopped her and asked why she was always running her mouth everywhere else, but when she was serving out her punishments - and there were plenty - she didn't bitch once.

Theresa's answer was something he'd remember till his dying day. She said, 'If you can't take the punishment when you knowingly did something wrong, then you shouldn't have had done it in the first place'. After that, instead of losing his temper with her, he watched with a concealed smile as she was slowly turning into one of the best warrior's the Navy would ever see.

"Well, Big Chief in the movie, I mean, the guy barely talks.You know, in fact, it-it even kind of seems like maybe he can't talk. Whereas you . . ." Spenser trailed of and Theresa hid a smile by biting down on

Big Chief worked hard to keep his tongue in check. "Please step out, miss." He said to the woman that was playing the 'hostage'. "Thank you for your service." He turned back to Spenser. "Mr. Spenser, would you care to save us a little time and tell us the mistakes you're already planning to correct so as not to get yourself killed in some dumbass way? "

"I can't think of one." Spenser answered confidently.

"Do you believe you were right not to assess as a threat the woman we just saw with a gun to your head?" Big Chief asked pointedly, trying to break down some of that ego of his.

"I believe I was correct to prioritize the military-age male as the greater threat. But I guess I should have considered the possibility that she was muling 'em. You know, but, even then, I-I don't think that I would have turned around to search her before I got him on the ground. And if I had, I bet you would've dinged me for it." Spenser said and Theresa hid a chuckle by faking a cough. Seeing the glares that she got from some of the other Chief's, Theresa just smirked. She wasn't afriad of them.

"Reset." Big Chief ordered as he supressed a sigh. He was getting to old for this shit.

"It's like a mini-Four." Another Chief muttered. Unluckily for him, the female SEAL heard him.

Her eyes narrowed and she pushed her hand into her pocket and took out the packet of gum that she knew was there. Then she threw it at the Chief's helmet. "I head that." She took a step forward when he cocked an eyebrow at her.

Jason saw this and gently grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her back to him. "That's enough." She flicked her tongue over her teeth in annoyance but took the step back to Jason and Ray and backed off.

Not for the first time, the Chief's surrounding them wondered what the hell Jason Hayes' secret is. If it was anyone else that told her it was enough, she would have most certainly punched them in the face. They were all sure of it.

"You okay, Tessa?" Ray asked, looking up at her from where he was leaning against the raling.

"Guy's lucky he didn't get a fist to the face." She scoffed, looking down at the cocky blonde and she unknowingly relaxed somewhat.

Jason pushed of the railing he was leaning against, leaving the training room. Ray and Theresa followed behind him. The two men argued amongst themselves as they walked to the team room.

"I'm telling you, he's not ready." Jason said after Ray told him that Spenser would fit perfectly on their team.

"So he's a wiseass." Ray didn't really care about that. They could beat it out of him. Not literally though.

"Wiseass?" Jason huffed. "More like a smartass."

"Smug smartass." Theresa corrected, shoving her hands into her pants pocket. "I trained him some."

"Even worse." Jason gestured with both hands to her.

"Do you remember what we were like when we were in Green Team? What Tessa was like?" Theresa smirked at Ray and Jason gave him a significant look. "Okay, bad example, she's still a pain in the ass. My point is, pain in the ass or not, she is a great asset on the team."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but we just watched him get killed." Jason pointed out, gesturing to the general direction where they walked from.

"What, did you see that? You know as well as I know that scenario is a no-win." Ray huffed with a slight smile.

"Yeah, Jase, fucking with our minds it part of the training." Theresa shrugged loosely, ducking when the Master Chief's hand came up to smack the back of her head.

"Mind your language, young lady." Jason pointed a finger at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. Then he looked at Ray. "I don't know about that."

"Big Chief says the kid sees the Matrix, just like his old man." Ray noted and Theresa frowned.

"What, is he gonna write a book, too?" Bravo's leader scoffed.

"Wait a second," Theresa said, coming to a halt in the middle of their walk. "What book?"

"The one Ash Spenser wrote." Jason said, as if it explained everything. It didn't, because Theresa still looked adorable confused.

"He wrote a book about his time as a SEAL." Ray elaborated, grateful when recognition lit in her eyes.

"Oh, you mean that one that had everyone and the cake eaters' panties in a twist when it came out?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's the one." Jason nodded grimly.

Theresa frowned at them, "But what's that got to do with Spenser?"

"Cause it's his dad." And that made no sense to the female SEAL.

Theresa's frown deepened. "But he didn't write it."

"You know what, can you just go back to judging everyone?" Jason huffed at her.

"I may judge people, but I do so fairly. And giving Spenser crap because of something his old man did, isn't fair." Theresa shrugged. Something inside of her was just telling her to protect Clay at all costs. Even against her brothers.

That scared her a little.

Jason groaned, stomping away from her, "You're such a pain in the ass sometimes."

"You still love me." Theresa grinned brightly at him as she and Ray caught up to him.

"God help me, yeah, I do." Jason grumbled good naturedly.

"We all do." Ray said, grinning and slinging an arm over her shoulders. Laughing lightly, the three SEAL's walked to the team room to start planning the Abu Samir mission.

**A/N:** what do you think so far?


	4. Chapter Four : A Mighty Fine Idea

**Chapter Four :** **A Mighty Fine Idea**

The plan was to drop on the General's compound with helicopters. The flight to their destination, Monorovia, Liberia, is going to be 22 hours long. Oh the joy. Confinded into a restricted space with nothing to do for almost a day. Eh, she was used to it. Doesn't mean she likes it. Theresa walked to the plane with Jason and Lisa. She spotted Ray and Sonny at the bottom of the ramp and saw Cerberus inside, which meant that Brock was already on board.

"So the ISUs are all loaded and I just got off with the advance team." Lisa said as Theresa only listened with half an ear, holding her dufflebag with one hand and nursing a cup of coffee with the other.

"Great." Jason said as the three arrived at the plane. "TOC up and ready?"

"Oh, yeah." Lisa confirmed as Theresa finally looked up from her cup of coffee.

"What do you say, Jedi, ready?" He tossed Ray his backpack and Theresa noticed a familiar blonde sitting inside the plane on a crate. "Let's go brother, huh?" Jason still hadn't noticed him, but Theresa knew it was a matter of seconds. "Come on, man." He smacked Sonny on the shoulder and walked up the ramp, coming face to face with Spenser.

"Clay Spenser, Jason Hayes." Lisa said and the female SEAL's eyes widened as she put the pieces together before Davis even said the words. "Meet your strap."

Theresa threw her head back and laughed heartily. "This is gonna go great." She said with a wide smile as she made her way into the plane. Bringing her coffee cup to her mouth, she dropped her bag down next to Brock, who frowned at her.

"You're evil, you know that." He said as Cerberus trotted over to her.

"What?" Theresa gasped in mock-offence as she crouched down to scratch behind Cerberus' ears and give him a kiss on the snout. "I am not capable of being evil with my halo." The female SEAL gestured with her free hand to the top of her head while she downed the rest of her coffee, shooting him an innocent smile.

Brock snorted as Theresa pulled her bag closer to her. She opened it and pulled out her hammock before she pushed herself to her feet. "You mean the one you broke into two pieces and craved into horns?" He raised a brow as he took the one side of the hammock.

"That is really mean." Theresa noted with a pout. Together they quickly secured the material to the aircraft.

"Doesn't make it anyless true." He shrugged, eyes teasing and laughing at her.

"I don't know why you are my best friend sometimes." Theresa huffed and Brock chuckled lowly.

"Now, that, is mean." He retorted and they both looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

"Care to share the joke with the class?" Sonny drawled as he walked up from behind the two. Casting a glance over her shoulder she saw that Ray and Jason is with him and smiled lightly at them.

"Brock's calling me evil because I laughed at Jason when he heard who our strap is." She shrugged matter-of-factly.

"Who's our strap?" Trent's voice asked from behind her.

"Clay Spenser." Sonny answered as he started with his hammock.

"We've had worse straps." Ray said as he took out his water resistant sleeping bag. God bless Lisa Davis.

"Remember Captain What's-his-name, froze on a HAHO ramp?" Sonny asked, casting a glace at Theresa before hooking the last side of his hammock. "At least this kid's a Team guy."

"Captain Garvey." The female answered Quinn's unasked question. She is good with names.

"Team guy? That's Ash Spenser's kid. You realize that, right?" Jason asked and Theresa rolled her eyes.

"We're gonna hold it against him 'cause his dad got PNG'd?" Sonny asked as he took a seat next to Ray and adjusted his cap.

"That's exactly what I said." Theresa noted as sat down inbetween Ray and Brock. She tilted her head thoughtfully as she remembered her conversation with Ray and Jason earlier, "Well, more or less."

"His dad's only persona non grata because he had the bad manners to write a book without being an officer." Ray informed the two SEAL's on either side of him. Then he looked at Jason. "Big Chief already signed off. It's one mission."

"One mission. I don't want to get it in this kid's head like this is some kind of an audition." He looked throughly disturbed at the mere thought of the Spenser kid on his team. "One mission." He shoved the laptop at Ray. "Here."

Theresa sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees, looking up at the Master Chief with a grin, "Hypothetically speaking, if it was an audition-"

"Don't even go there, Tessa, alright?" Jason cut her off with a slight glare.

She held her hands up in the universal sign of surrender, knowing smile on her lips, "Okay."

It couldn't have been five minutes later when the female SEAL jumped up from her seat, declaring quite loudly, "I'm bored." Then she started skipping to the front of the plane.

"Where are you going?" Jason shouted after her.

"To go look for entertainment." She shouted back.

Sonny snorted, "Other words, she's gonna go bother Blackburn 'till he gets fed up and chases her back here."

"Like I said, pain in the ass." Ray remarked as he closed the laptop and handed it back to Jason.

"Wouldn't trade her for anything though." Brock said and all of them nodded in agreement, doing their best to hide the fond grins that threatened to bloom on their faces. It wouldn't do good for the rest of the plane to see the macho and fearless Bravo team - minus one - sitting with silly smiles on their faces.

**SEAL TEAM**

Between talking Eric's ear off for a good two hours, two eight hour naps, Theresa Kane only had four hours left to keep herself busy. All of which passed slowly. When the plane finally touched down, she quickly snatched her bag and was the first one out the plane, practically bouncing with excitement. Brock took Cerberus' cage and put him on a leash before handing him to Sonny, who decided to scare the CIA straps.

Their temporary Base of Operations was great in comparison to some of the bases they've been at. Theresa eyed the helicopter with glee filled eyes, longing in her glance.

"Someone better tell the guy in charge to hide the keys to the helo." Sonny's teasing voice snapped her out of her admiring reverie. Bravo, who was the only ones who knew what the inside joke was, laughed at the comment.

She glared at him. "Oh, piss off, Quinn."

"Aw, come now, little lady, don't be like that." He said as the CIA techs worked on pulling up the feeds on the monitors.

"I don't get it." Mandy said, looking at Theresa and Sonny in confusion. She's only been Bravo's CIA liason for a year, while Theresa's been on the team since she was twenty one, which was three years. Amanda Ellis has memorised every detail in Theresa's file. Creepy, she knows, but the female SEAL is like a never ending mystery.

"Bout two years ago, Tessa thought it was a mighty fine idea to steal, sorry, _borrow_-" Sonny quickly corrected when he saw her sharp glare. "a helo from an airbase in Russia to go and do some sightseeing."

"I was bored." Theresa defended, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You could pilot a military helicopter at 21?" Mandy's jaw was slightly agape, not doing a very good job of hiding her awe.

"At twenty actually, but I borrowed the one in Russia when I was 22." At least Theresa had the decency to look somewhat sheepish.

"Wouldn't it be a year instead of two then?" The CIA liason frowned, because Theresa was 23.

"I'm turning 24 in a few months." She shrugged and Mandy nodded in realisation.

"Jason was so mad, he had her running hills for three months." Ray grinned fondly at the memory.

"And Blackburn," Sonny chortled. "He had to please and explain and apologize to the Commander of the base 'till he was blue in the face."

"It's been two years, guys, let it go already." Theresa huffed in exasperation as she propped herself up on a table near the monitors.

"Not happening." Trent said with a grin and Theresa decided to ignored them, diverting her attention to the monitor's that showed an ugly brown cloud-like substance obscuring their view of the Compound.

"Those aren't clouds." Mandy stated the obvious.

"Smoke." Tim, one of the CIA's techs, told them. "City's in the middle of burning time."

"People are such retards." Theresa remarked and her team looked at her. "What? Just look at that." She thrust her hands to the screens. "Causing all that air pollution just to hide a criminal."

"There's no way we get a green light unless we can confirm Samir's presence." Mandy said, clearly upset.

"Up till a few hours ago, we were having no problem finding holes in the smog." Tim said and Theresa frowned at the screen.

"Finding holes?" Jason repeated. "I'm not seeing any holes in here."

"That's because now, Lionheart's guys have joined in the burning." Tim explained to them.

"Right and you failed to mention that to us because why?" Jason asked, somewhat pissed because he didn't have all of the information.

"I told you, till a couple of hours ago, our optics weren't compromised." Tim explained once again, starting to feel nervous with Jason looking like he wants to punch something.

"He means about the guys in the compound starting to burn." Ray said before his boss or, God forbid, Theresa could snap at the poor techie.

"You think they're using the fires to cover Samir's arrival." Mandy suggested, squinting slightly at the screens.

"They certainly aren't doing it out of the goodness of their hearts to help the people." Theresa snarked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I say we do a little sneak and peak." Jason suggested as he turned around from insepecting the maps on the screen with Ray.

"Hell yeah." Theresa agreed immediately, jumping of the table she was sitting on. "I'm so bored, I could start counting my fingers and toes."

"Not gonna get any further than twenty." Brock quipped, making Jason, Trent, Sonny and Ray snort in amusement as Theresa glared half heartedly at him.

"A ground recon? You want to go out into the city on foot?" Mandy asked, clearly unhappy and definitely not on board with this idea.

"Yeah, we'll take the Scooby Van." Jason said, hands on his hips. He pointed to Lisa, "Davis?" She nodded with a smile.

"Seriously, guys, I know Monrovia's supposed to have gotten better the last couple of years, but it's still kind of Mad Max out there. Not to mention, they aren't very receptive of women." Tim said and Theresa's head whipped to him as Lisa and the rest of Bravo sent a prayer up for the man.

Theresa narrowed her eyes, "What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that they could beat you. Or kill you." Tim said and he took a step back when she started to glare that him, stumbling into his chair.

She scoffed, "They are more than welcome to try." The female SEAL said, her tone dark. Then she went back to glaring at the techie. How come no one seemed to realise that in order to be on this team, she had to go through all the trails and training and pain and sometimes humiliation that the rest of the SEAL's did?

"Wow, now, that was racist and insulting to Tessa. That sounded racist to me?" He turned to Ray. "How about you?"

"Mad Max is wall-to-wall white folks." Ray answered, looking at Jason. "Definitely racist to ask the black guy to rule if something's racist or not. Just FYI."

"Okay, mocha latte." Jason retorted and Theresa huffed a chuckle.

"Guys-" Mandy called out.

"See? Now that's racist." Ray said to Jason, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

"How about hot chocolate, that better?" Theresa asked with a playful smirk and Ray rolled his eyes at her good naturedly.

"Guys! You're punking us, right? You're not actually considering going out there?" Amanda asked, looking at them in disbelief.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Theresa asked with a grin.

**SEAL TEAM**

"Good God, I'm boiling." Theresa said, sighing in relief when she took of the piece of black clothing that was masking her identity as both a woman and an American. Her eyes looked around the balcony she was standing on with Ray and Jason. She couldn't see much in the dark, but did so out of habit to always scan her surroundings for a threat. It was something that is engrained into her heart and soul, like a sixth sense that was always active.

"Yeah, me too." Jason muttered as they both took off their bags and dropped it to the floor. He looked at Ray, "Set up the camera. I'll get first watch. You guys get some sleep."

"I slept 16 hours on the plane." Theresa informed him. "How about I go to the roof and check out the neighbours?"

"Okay, but you need to cover up." Jason agreed and she nodded. "Be careful and come down at the first sign of daylight."

"Roger that." She smiled at him, taking her rifle she walked back into the building where Sonny, Trent, Brock and Spenser were.

"Hey Tessa, where you going?" Brock asked, looking over at his best friend. Spenser frowned at the name he called her. Didn't she say that everyone calls her Four?

"Up top," She pointed to the roof. "Scope out the perimeter."

"Kay, be careful." Brock nodded before picking up his bag, heading to the balcony.

She rolled her eyes, "You do realise I'm not a baby, right?"

Brock's only answer was a low chuckle as she made her way upto the roof. She laid flat on her belly, and positioned her rifle. Slowly, she looked through her night vision scope for any movements on the surrounding roof's. After an hour of nothing, the sounds of footsteps and breathing approaching caught her attention.

Theresa immediately knew who it was. And, although he was trying to be silent, she has been with Bravo for three years and has learned a lot, so she always made sure to be extra vigilant. She gave him points for effort though. Besides, her brothers would have radioed her if they were going to come up.

"If you're going to sneak up on some one, might I suggest, controlling your breathing and stepping silently?" Theresa spoke softly, yet loud enough for him to hear her. She didn't look up at him, just kept her eyes on her scope and looking around for trouble.

"I wasn't trying to sneak up on you." Spenser defended in a whisper as he laid down next to her, taking out his own rifle to look around. Good as Theresa may be, an extra pair of eyes never hurt. At least, that was what he was telling himself as came up here.

Finally, she looked at him. "If you say so." She shrugged and went back to looking through her scope.

"Are you Bravo's sniper?" Spenser whispered to her after not even ten minutes of silence.

"We're all snipers." Theresa informed him matter-of-factly. "But, no, that's Ray's job."

"What's your job then?"

"To kill the enemy." She deadpanned. Then she looked over at him and saw him looking kind of dejected. Her heart squeezed and she rolled her eyes. "What Ray can do with a bullet, I can do with a knife. I can kick anyone on all the Tier One teams' ass - we once held a spesific training session for me to go one-on-one with everyone. Oh, and I can pilot any aircraft."

"Basically, your a knife wielding, ass kicking, pilot?" He asked, looking over at her with a boyish grin.

"You don't wield a knife, but yeah, basically." Theresa nodded before going back to looking at her scope.

It was silent for a while, with the blonde gathering all of his courage to ask the question and hope that he wouldn't get punched in the face.

"So, you and curly haired dude-" Theresa snorted in amusement at his discription for Brock, no matter how accurate it may be. "-are you guys a thing?"

"His name is Brock." Theresa informed him, glancing at him and Spenser nodded. "And how did you come to that conclusion?" She asked, her tone one of pure amusement instead of anger, like he suspected it would be. Considering her famous short temper.

"You said that everyone calls you Four, but just now he called you Tessa." Spenser whispered back his answer.

"Well, if you paid a little more attention, you'd hear that all of Bravo calls me Tessa." Theresa finally told him.

Suffice to say, Clay felt more than a little stupid. Ignoring his burning cheeks, he asked her another question. "Is it a team thing?"

She rolled her eyes at the blonde, but answered anyways. "No, it's a friend thing."

"So, only your friends get to call you Tessa and the rest call you Four?" Spenser asked to make sure that he had it right.

"Or they just call me Kane." She shrugged. She didn't really care what people outside of Bravo - Lisa included - called her, because really, they are her only friends. As long as they don't call her Tessa.

"So, are we friends?" He asked, some of that cocky personality shining through.

"You do realise that I'm a Lieutenant Commander and that you're a Greenie, right?" She turned to him, a perfect eyebrow raised and her face void of any emotion.

"Are you saying that because of that, we can never be friends?" Spenser retorted.

"Tell you what," She started looking away, sweeping over the buildings once again. That feeling of relief going through her just like everytime she checks the perimeter and finds no danger. "You make it into Bravo, I'll give you the answer. See it as a reward waiting for you at the finish line."

"Well, in that case, I'm never getting my answer." His voice sounded resigned.

"Why would you think that?"

"Chief Hayes hates me." He answered in a duh tone as he looked through his scope as well.

Theresa sighed gently, "Take it from someone who's almost known him a decade, Jason doesn't hate you. He hates what your dad did. Part of him thinks you're gonna do the same."

"I would never." Spenser said instantly, his voice honest and open and sincere.

"Course you wouldn't. I'd personally kick your ass if you did."

For a few minutes it was silent, before Clay broke it again. "I'm not my dad."

For some reason, those words broke her bitch facade completely. She made sure to hide her face as she answered, "I know. I'm trying to make him see that."

"You want me on Bravo?" Spenser asked, clearly surprised.

"Yeah," She nodded. "I've seen you in training. You have a tactical mind, you're a great shot, might even be better than Ray. Problem is, you're a cocky asshole."

"Wow, you don't ever sugar coat anything, do you?"

"I believe that honesty is the best policy. Especially in our line of work. If we don't have all of the intel for an op, we could get not only ourselves killed, but also innocent civillians." Theresa answered him simply.

As they fell into a companionable silence, Clay wondered what made Theresa Kane join the Navy?

**SEAL TEAM**

At the first ray's of sunlight, Theresa and Spenser made their way off the roof and into the house. The female SEAL saw Brock and Trent asleep inside the house instead of on the balcony. She set her rifle down before going to the bathroom and doing her bussiness. Coming back out, she dug into her backpack and took out a bag of raisins. She swore when she saw it was peanuts and raisins, instead of plain raisins. That's what happens when she shops for snacks in a hurry.

Walking to the balcony, she crouched down in the doorway before speaking - it was daylight and much easier to be spotted. "Which one of you has clean raisins?" Because all of Bravo team loves peanuts and raisins as chew food.

"I got some, wasn't feeling like peanuts when I bought 'em." Sonny quipped from where he was busy carving a piece of wood. He dug into his backpack before he tossed her the plastic baggie of raisins and she tossed him the peanuts and raisins.

"Thanks and sorry." She said softly, grinning as she ripped the packet open. She knew that he wouldn't give them to her unless they were safe.

"Is cool, little lady, I can pick the raisins out and leave the peanuts. You can't." Sonny shrugged without looking up from his craving job.

"Do you hate peanuts or something?" Spenser asked with furrowed brows.

"Allergic." Theresa, Jason and Sonny answered as one. Had Ray been fully awake, she was sure that he would have said the same. Every one on Bravo knew about her allergy and she also knew that every one of them carried an Eppie pen in their backpacks like she did. After she went into anaphylactic shock because Alana baked cookies using nut extract and Theresa forgot to tell them about her allergy, Jason never left his house without one. She saw one in the cabbie of his truck every time she opened it.

At first, she didn't even know that Jason had told the team about her allergy. She had her medical alert tag roped on the chain along with her dog tags, incase she ever ends up at a hospital because of her allergy and she wasn't near the team. She was under that impression until they went out to a bar one night with Alpha team. One of them offered her peanuts from the bar and Sonny almost tackled the poor dude.

"Oh." Spenser snapped in realisation. He stored the information in the back of his mind, never knew when he might need it. Hopping over to Sonny, she took a seat next to him and quietly ate. Tuning out Jason and Clay's sort of conversation, she kept her eyes on Sonny's craving.

"You doing anything spesific?" She asked, looking at the wood in interest.

"Just passin' time." He answered, shrugging one shoulder.

"We got movement." Spenser's words caught her attention and she quickly made her way over there. "White kufi. Take a look."

"TOC, this is Bravo 1. Confirming you're seeing what we're seeing here." Jason radioed.

"Roger that, Bravo 1, we're seeing it. Positive I.D. on Abu Samir Al Masri." Mandy's voice came through the radio.

"Congratulations, TOC. He is exactly where you told us he was gonna be. I'll tell you what, we're gonna pack up, and then we're gonna exfil. How copy?" Master Chief asked.

"Strong copy, Bravo 1. Great work." Mandy answered and Theresa could hear the barely concealed joy in her tone.

"Let's go." Jason ordered and Theresa got up from her knees and ontop her feet, about to push herself upright.

"I don't get it." Spenser said, keeping his eye on the scope and making no move to get up.

Jason didn't understand, "What do you mean you don't get it?"

"I mean, Samir's legendary for his tradecraft. Kept him alive all these years, while his friends were getting turned into pink mist. Why is he coming out in the open now?" Spenser paused briefly while Theresa frowned as she began to think about his words. "We don't know that it's khat they're selling."

Theresa looked at Jason, her expression blank. Something wasn't right here. "Jase, he's got a point."

"Bravo 1, this is TOC." Mandy said at the same time that Spenser's suspision's was proven to be right and the men brought out a prisoner. "Current video feed appears to show subjects unloading a hooded prisoner. Can you confirm?"

"Affirmative." Jason answered and dread pulled at everyone's stomach as they watched the woman, who was clearly an American.

"Fuck." Theresa swore.

A/N: that conversation on the roof was so much fun to write.


	5. Chapter Five : One Day I'll Tell You

**Author's Note:**My decision to make Tessa a Lieutenant Commander came from me doing research on Wikia, I wasn't sure what everyone on the team's ranks were - except that Jason is the Master Chief. And there it says that Brock, Nate, Ray, Sonny and Trent are all Lieutenant Commanders. *Facepalms* That's what I get for believing what I read. So, that is where her rank comes from. I just wanted you to know that I didn't just pull it out of my ass. Anyways, sorry for those who it upsets. Just roll with it, please??

**Chapter Five : One Day I'll Tell You Everything**

"What's the chances I'm going to hear something that's gonna piss me of in this meeting?" Theresa asked as they walked to their temporary war room. She, along with the rest of Bravo, had changed back into their uniforms after taking a quick shower.

"I'd say a solid 80 percent." Brock answered and the female Seal nodded, shoving her hands into her pockets.

Trent raised his eyebrows at him, "Why not 50-50?"

"Cause it's Tessa and there's a cake eater involved." Brock shrugged and Trent nodded, making a silent 'ah' with his mouth. They decided to hang back and lean against the containers - Cerberus at Brock's side - while Theresa and Jason walked up to the tables.

Jason cast Theresa a sideways glance, "What's the chance you keep your mouth shut when that happens?"

"A good ole, perfect round zero." She smirked up at him. They took a seat next to each other at one of the two-people tables.

"Believe everyone's properly situated here now, Ms. Ellis, so please tell us what we know about this poor woman, Ms . . ." The Corporal in his Navy Uniform trailed off expectantly. Theresa crossed her arms over her chest and schooled her features into a neutral look, hiding the fact that dread was pulling at her stomach.

"Uh Marshall, sir. Stacey Marshall." Amanda Ellis spoke up, answering his question. "Abducted April last year from her NGO's distribution center in South Sudan.We're not certain how she came into the possession of this particular group, but as you know, it's not uncommon for hostages to be sold and resold through various pipelines, particularly attractive Western females."

"Thank you, Ms. Ellis." His head turned to Blackburn. "Now, Eric, how are we planning to bring this young lady home, to her loving parents?" Relief. That's what Theresa felt when she heard his words. The dread unfolded in her stomach and she could breath properly for the first time since they saw the hostage on the screen.

"Sir?" Mandy interupted, much to the irritation of the Corporal.

"Yes, Ms. Ellis?" He said and Theresa could tell that he was trying to be polite, but his patience with her was thinning.

"Abu Samir's continued survival would almost certainly mean hundreds of deaths, both of civilians and of coalition personnel, and in fact, we believe he may have knowledge of planned attacks already in motion." Mandy said and just like that, the dread was back in Theresa's stomach, but this time it brought a friend. Rage flared through Theresa's chest. She clenched her fists and laid them on the table, out of reach of the knife that was clipped on her boots, pressing between the boot and her leg.

Jason leaned over to her, voice low. "I know the urge to throw your knife into her neck is big, but please don't commit murder infront of all these witnessess."

"No promises." She muttered, glaring at Amanda Ellis, wishing she would spontaniously combust. Her gaze moved to Jason, jaw clenched. "You have a plan?"

"I do." He nodded and she relaxed somewhat, knowing that he wouldn't lie to her.

"I'm gonna cut you off there, Ms. Ellis." The cake eater said, voice clipped. "It sounded like you're about to suggest we do nothing for Ms. Marshall, and instead adhere to our current operational plan to snatch Abu Samir." At his words, Theresa relaxed a little more. "Eric, I'm gonna ask you a very simple question. Do we have the resources to rescue the hostage and perform a successful nonlethal snatch of the HVT?"

Mandy turned back to her table with a sigh, glancing over at Jason. She immediately moved her gaze somewhere else when she noticed Theresa's dark glare aimed at her.

"Well, sir, it's difficult to be definitive, till we've had enough time to fully revise our ops plan, but I think at the moment-" Eric started, only to be cut of.

"We can do both." Jason interupted.

"I-I'm sorry. Who is that?" The bald man asked.

"Senior Chief Hayes." Jason informed him, standing up from the table and giving Theresa a warning glance. He only got a indecisive nod/shrug in return.

"Jason." The Corporal said in recognition. "Uh, you were saying?"

"I'm saying that we can accomplish both objectives." Jason repeated.

"Now, son, needless to say, your reputation precedes you. But that's mighty hard to imagine."

"Assuming that Samir digs in. But according to the CIA, he's gonna pick flight over fight." Jason glanced over at Mandy. "Isn't that right, Ms. Ellis?"

"Uh, that's correct." Mandy stood up again. "That's our projection."

Jason walked over to their miniature replica of the Compound Samir was hiding in. "So, Helo 1 and Helo 2 are gonna fast-rope the assault team on top of the building. They're gonna clear down and secure the hostage. Helo 3 is gonna go after Samir when he squirts. And Helo 4 is gonna maintain our close air support."

"Eric." The Corporal called out and Blackburn turned back to him. "Clearly your op-planning was much further along than you led us to believe. Nice work, son."

"Thank you, sir." Blackburn accepted, knowing it was wise not to tell the man that Jason just came up with that plan in the meeting.

"You'll launch this evening?" The man in charge asked.

"Soon as the sun goes down." Jason affirmed.

"Good. Good luck. Thank you, gentlemen." The Corporal said and the second the screen was black, Theresa got up so fast that her chair fell over. The screeching sound the chair made caught the whole room's attention.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Theresa snarled, walking over to Mandy with quick steps.

"Tessa, now's not the time." Jason said, seeing the look of pure anger on her face.

"Stay out of this, Jason." Theresa warned, turning her heated glare to her Boss and oldest friend. She turned back to Mandy when Jason nodded reluctantly. "Suggesting letting that poor woman, who has been held captive for a year and had God only knows what done to her, be left in her own personal hell."

"Samir needs to be stopped. At any means neccesary." The CIA Agent snapped, eyes hard.

"I always thought you were a bitch, Amanda, I just never thought that you're a heartless one."

"You've never liked me, Kane." Mandy accused, not backing down from Theresa's glare.

"That is not true." Theresa insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Once upon a time I thought you were a decent person, better than most I've met, until you almost got me killed."

"Bad intel almost got you killed." Mandy corrected.

"Which came from you. Even after Jason, Brock and I, told you that something didn't feel right. You ignored us and swore up and down that your intel was good." Theresa retorted, not backing down either. This has been a long time coming. Eleven months of dislike and pent up anger finally took over Theresa.

"If you can't handle the pressure of being a Seal and the fact that you could die, then you should leave the Navy." Mandy said and all of Bravo tensed. They saw the second she exploded - her posture changed, the fire in her eyes turning into lava.

The one second Theresa's fist went flying and the next Amanda was on her ass, hand cradling her jaw that was exploding with pain. The whole of Bravo was behind Theresa in a flash, ready to restrain her if she was going after Amanda a second time.

"There is a big difference between the possiblity of death and being sent into a suicide mission." Theresa spat, those pits of fire the female Seal called eyes finally made Mandy shrink back.

"I already apologized, what more do you want?" The CIA Agent asked, almost helplessly. Everyone on the team had forgiven her for that mishap in the beginning. Everyone except Theresa, who's ability to hold is grudge is as breathtaking as her ability to kick ass.

Theresa tilted her head, a cold smirk spreading on her lips. "Well, that's a long list, but right now, I'd very much like for you to disappear into thin air."

"Theresa, that's enough." Eric's voice snapped her our of her anger. She looked at him, saw the look in his eyes, the way his jaw was set. "Go take a walk." She stared at him and he stared back. Not even two seconds later did her respect and loyalty to and for Blackburn win out over her anger towards the CIA Agent. Her shoulders sagged, her head dipped and she turned around and walked out of the building.

Jason turned to Brock, "Go after her, before she does something stupid."

"She won't listen to me." The Canine Handler said, shrugging one arm. Theresa Kane was the most stubborn person he's ever met.

Jason gave him a look, "You're her best friend, Brock. I know she won't listen to you, but she'll talk to you. When she talks, she calms down instead of getting lost in her anger and the ticking time bomb inside her will defuse."

**SEAL TEAM**

Theresa walked until she was on the other side of the building. She leaned against the wall, eyes taking in her surroundings out of habit as the anger inside of her still burned fiercely. Damn that Amanda Ellis. The woman worked her nerves like no one else. Spotting two containers a few feet away from her, one red and one beige, she decided to walk over to them.

Theresa stopped when she was close enough before running at the containers. She pushed up against the one container, then the other before throw her body upwards. Her fingers grabbed onto the edge of the container and she gripped tightly. From there, she easily pulled herself up on the container.

Legs stretched out infront of her, she leaned back and pressed her palms against the container. With a hiss, Theresa immediately pulled back and blew on her slightly stinging hands. In her anger, she forgot that the sun has been shining down on the metal the whole day long. She decided to cross her legs and look over the base instead.

She squinted when she saw someone walking over to her and her body tensed. Spotting a familiar mop of brown curls and a four legged friend at his side, she relaxed. Theresa waited until he reached her and joined her one top of the container. She scooted to the edge, looking down as Cerberus settled in the shade of the containers while Brock settled beside her.

"Why do you always pick high spots to hide?" Brock asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"The higher I go, the quieter it is. I like quiet." Theresa shrugged, knowing that he was asking for conversation's sake. "Plus, I can see anyone coming closer to me."

"You need to let go of this anger you have towards her." Brock sighed, running a hand through his curls and waiting for the scoff he knew was coming.

The man wasn't disappointed. She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest to seconds later. "I'm not angry at her, I hate her. I hate her and I want her gone."

"You don't hate her, you don't hate anyone." Brock retorted with a snort, which he received a light smack to his bicep for. "You hate what she almost cost you."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty attached to the realm of the living." Theresa nodded in agreement.

"I'm not talking about that. Jason was right next to you, that's what you hate."

Theresa clenched her jaw. He was right. They both knew it. She flicked her tongue over her teeth, deciding to deflect. She didn't want to talk about it. "What, are you my shrink now?"

"Just your best friend, who happens to know you better than anyone else in this world." Brock's words was light, matter-of-fact, but both of them felt the weight behind his words. "Sides, you don't talk to shrinks anymore than you willingly talk to Ellis."

"Jason might disagree." Theresa countered, pointedly ignoring his last sentance.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "but that still doesn't change the fact that I know you."

"Whatever." She huffed, looking back down at Cerberus, waving at the dog when he looked up.

"And knowing you, means knowing that you're not capable of hate." Brock went on as if he hadn't heard her.

"I hate my mother." Theresa retorted without thinking, cursing herself mentally the second afterwards.

Brock knew her well enough to know a slip of the tongue, especially given the fact that in the three years that he's known her, she never once mentioned her life before meeting Jason, or how she even met Jason in the first place. This was the first time she's mentioned her mother. Brock had so many questions, all burning one the tip of his tongue. But unless Theresa gave him an indication that she was willing to share, he'd never ask.

"One day, I'll tell you everything, I promise." Theresa said, seeing all of the questions that burned in his eyes. She swung her legs over the side of the container before turning to him with a grin that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Race you around the building, old man?"

Brock smirked, nodding as he swung his legs over the side of the containers as well. In perfect unison they pushed off the container and landed on their feet expertly. Two seconds later, they were off running as fast as they can, with Cerberus bulleting far ahead of them.

When they rounded the building and stopped inside, doubled over and gasping for breath, Trent looked over at them with a grin. "Who won this time?" Brock raised his hand off his knee, pointed to himself. Theresa shoved at him with a light scoff and they both collapsed to the floor.

"You sure you're Tier One Operators?" Sonny teased as he walked up to the pair.

"Oh, whatever, Mister I'm-Afriad-of-Water." She gasped. The rest of the team chuckled at their antics and Sonny pulled a face.

"It ain't the water, so much as what's inside it." He defended, much to the amusement of his team.

Jason smiled to himself as he looked at the girl laying on the floor. Bomb defused, crisis adverted.

For now.

Because heaven knows, he knew that Theresa wasn't done being angry at Mandy. Not by a long shot.

**SEAL TEAM**

Theresa was on the helicopter, a lightness to her heart and a peace over her soul that she found nowhere else. The steady drum of adrenaline ran through her body as she laughed and joked with the rest of her team. Spenser was sitting next to her, looking at her when he thought she wouldn't notice. She did notice. So did Brock. When her best friend caught her eye, he gave her a smirk and wiggled his eyebrows as he gestured to the blonde next to her. She gave him a sarcastic smile before subtly flipping him the bird.

"This is Chalk 4. I'm having some kind of trouble with my pedals. I'm getting a lot of shake in 'em." The pilot of helo four said, voice crackling through the radio on Jason's shoulder. "It's affecting our stability. I'm trying to hold it steady."

"All right, Chalk 4, I need your honest assessment. Can you continue this mission?" Blackburn's voice came over the line.

Theresa held her breath, "Negative. I need to put her down." Everyone's mood hit the ground, knowing what was coming next.

"Copy, Chalk 4." Eric responded. "Chalks 1, 2 and 3, your birds are still functional, correct?"

"Roger. Five-by-five." Bravo team's pilot confirmed.

"Chalk 2, five-by-five."

"Chalk 3, five-by-five."

"All right, all call signs, initiate bump plan. Mission is now exclusively hostage rescue. Snatch and grab operation has been scrapped." Blackburn ordered them and Bravo exchanged grim looks.

"Confirming. Hostage rescue only." Chalk 1's pilot said.

They approached the Compound and Theresa readied herself.

"RPG, 12:00." Jason said and Ray shot the man down, no shots being hears because of his silencer.

The helo hovered as they all roped down to the roof, one by one. They then roped down from the roof to the nearest balcony. Stealthly, they made their way into the building. Through corridors and on the stairs they encountered their first hostiles. Ray shot them down and on the second ground floor, they started clearing all the rooms.

The last door they came across was locked. Shooting it open with a shotgun, Bravo breached. Jason and Ray was first through the door. When the sound of a female screaming hit her ears, Theresa knew that they were in the right place.

"Put it down now! Put it down!" Jason ordered the kid, who had a gun in his hands. Theresa stepped into the room, gun trained on the kid holding a gun. She forced herself to not care, to not see a kid, but an armed enemy. "Translator." Jason called for Clay and he started speaking in Hausa.

"I'm gonna ghost him." Ray warned when the kid didn't put down the weapon.

"Try another dialect." Jason ordered Clay as the child looked at Theresa. Theresa forced all of the emotion out of her face, ignoring the way stomach churned and images of a dead child flashed across her mind. Clay started speaking in Yoruba, but still the kid didn't put his gun down.

"Jace?" Ray called to his boss.

"Try another one." Jason said to Clay, not wanting to kill a child any more than the rest of them. Clay speaks in Mende and the kid finally puts his gun down. Theresa shouldered her rifle as she stepped to the kid. She hit the back of his knees with her foot and went down to the ground with him. Theresa zip-tied his hands behind his back.

Meanwhile, Jason walked to the terror filled hostage and tried to calm her down. "It's okay. It's okay. Look, hey, it's all right. It's okay. We're here. We're American. We're gonna take you home, okay? Shh. You're safe. All right?" The Chief crouched down next to her. "I'll get this off of you."

"Thank you." Stacey Marshall whispered as Theresa searched the kid for hidden weapons while Ray disarmed his weapon.

"We're gonna take you home, all right? It's okay. Hey." Jason was still working on soothing the hostage as Clay looked around as the three Bravo members worked like a well oiled machine with Sonny watching their six in outside in the corridor.

"All Chalks, this is Bravo. Move to secure the hostage. We're gonna move her to exfil from here.

"Roger, Bravo 1. Nice work." Chalk one's pilot responded.

"This is X-Ray 1. We're on the first deck. Looks like your dog's found something. Over." A voice informed them over the radio.

"Sonny! Sonny! You and the strap, you exfil her. We're gonna go see what the dog has, then we're gonna go home on Chalk 2. Let's go." Jason said to Quinn, nodding to Ray and Theresa.

Ray stopped in front of Jason, "Boss, we run into another one of the general's guys, it'd be great to have a translator with us."

"You want the strap on my back, don't you?" Jason asked, then he looked at Theresa.

"I'll go with the hostage, after the hell she's been through, she'd feel better with a female by her side anyways." Theresa shrugged, getting the message that she couldn't go with him and Ray this time.

"Okay, let's go. Let's go." Jason moved and in five seconds, he, Clay and Ray were gone and in the opposite direction of her and Sonny.

"It's Stacey, right?" The blonde nodded, still shaking. "Well, my name is Theresa."

"Nice to meet you." Stacey said, the honesty and relief palable in her voice.

"I bet." Theresa nodded, shrugging her rifle off her shoulder and holding it out to Sonny. When he took it, she stepped closer to the blonde woman. "Now, I need you to tell me if you have any immediate injuries? Something that would endanger your life or hinder your ability to walk?" The female Seal pressed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"N-no, I'm fine." Her voice broke and her eyes shined with tears. "I just . . . I want to go home."

"Let's go then." Theresa smiled at her, wrapping one arm around Stacey and the woman gladly leaned into the embrace.

The female Seal looked over at Sonny. He nodded and walked out of the room, gun trained in front of him and ready to shoot if they missed someone as Theresa pulled her Glock from it's thigh holster, flicked off the safety and held it in one hand, finger on the trigger and ready to shoot should trouble arrive. Every three seconds, Theresa looked behind her to scan for a threat. It wasn't likely, but it wasn't impossible either.

This time, they could use the stairs that led to the roof. She didn't know if Stacey could even climb a rope in her fragile state. Trent joined them on the roof, questioning gaze flickering to the hostage then to Theresa. She shook her head 'no' to the silent question as she holstered her gun. Stacey didn't need immediate medical attention.

The three Bravo members got into Chalk One and the helo took of into the night sky, going back to Base. Theresa sat down on the floor next to the hostage as Sonny and Trent each covered one of the open doors of the copters.

Theresa turned her head to the woman after Stacey stifled a yawn, "You can sleep if you want to, flight's an hour and a half." Stacey nodded and not ten minutes later did her head fall onto Theresa's shoulder.

"How is she?" Trent looked over his shoulder, nodded to the former hostage when he noticed that she was asleep.

"Physcially? Malnutritioned, but fine. Mentally?" Theresa shook her head, heaving a sigh. "Traumatised, scared half to death, the list goes on. It's gonna take work, but she'll be fine."

"You sure?" Sonny asked without looking back at them.

"She survived hell for a year. She's a fighter." Theresa nodded confidently, looking down at the woman that fell asleep against her shoulder.

**SEAL TEAM**

"Can I talk to you?" Amanda Ellis' voice reached her ears when she stepped out of Eric's makeshift office. Theresa tensed but turned to the woman with a raised eyebrow. "I wanted to apologize about earlier. I was out of line and you were right. She could have been tortured for months before being executed."

"I'd apologize for the jaw, but I'm not sorry." Theresa shrugged unapologetically, eyeing the ugly purple bruise, and Mandy nodded in understanding. "Anything else?"

"No." Mandy shook her head and Theresa turned around not even taking two steps before the raven haired woman spoke again. "Can't you stop being angry and forgive me?" Her voice was pleading, almost begging. Theresa once again turned back to the CIA Agent.

"Jason. Ray. Brock. Cerberus. Trent. Sonny. Eric. Lisa. Alana. Emma. Mikey." Theresa named, voice calm and her face blank. "On a planet with six billion people, I have ten people and one dog in my world. Ten people and a dog that I'd kill for. Ten people and a dog that I'd jump infront of a bullet for. They're my family." She took a deep breath. "It all started with me meeting Jason. If I never met him, becoming a Seal wouldn't have ever crossed my mind and I would have never had this family. I warned you that intel was dogdy and the place even more so. You ignored me and thanks to you, I almost lost him. So, no, Amanda, I can't just stop being angry or forgive you."

This time, Mandy didn't try to stop Theressa when she turned around and walked away. Mandy took a deep breath, shoving down the hurt in her chest before knocking on Eric's door.

Theresa walked over to Sonny and Trent, both men eyed her. Quinn was the one who asked first, "You good."

"Peachy." She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and silence fell among them as they waited for the rest of their team.

"Here they come." Sonny muttered when they heard the tell tale sound of helo roters.

Having been in debriefing ever since they touched down, not Sonny, Theresa or Trent has had time to get out of their gear. Their weapons was in their cots and the vests was wearing them down but they wanted to see their brother's first before relaxing and getting out of uniform.

They heard them before they saw them. "I told him, 'Stay outside, watch my six'." Jason said, voice heated. The three inside exchanged looks.

"Yeah, I know, but the kid made a call." Ray tried to reason. Theresa snorted. He'd have more luck with a wall, Jason's as stubborn as she is. Maybe even more.

"No, what what kind of call did he make?"

"And you know what, he's got a point." Ray defended.

"A point?" Jason asked as they rounded into Bravo's makeshift quaters.

"That guy trying to creep could've just as easily had a friend."

"What happened?" Theresa called over to them, knowing that there was a reason for the look on Jason's face.

"Kid got Samir straight through the light switch. Jace thinks there could have been a different ending." Ray answered when Jason didn't, just thundered his way to his cot. Theresa rose her eyebrows in disbelief - that what's had Jason huffing and puffing? She already knew that and thought that something else happened. Personally, she wasn't all that bothered about Samir's demise when Eric told them about it.

"Impressive." Theresa nodded as she started taking off her vest.

"Right." Jason muttered.

"I mean, come on." Ray tried again.

"You know what, Samir is all about martyrdom. I tell you what, that detonator, bam, right when we enter the room. Boom." Jason argued back.

"Maybe he was trying to draw us closer." Ray reasoned.

"You know what? His thumb wasn't on the detonator, okay?" He looked over at Sonny that was also taking off his vest. "How was it with the hostage?"

"Got her number." Sonny answered, causing Theresa to snort in amusement.

"Got her number. That's something." Jason scoffed, looking over at the female SEAL.

"All good." She rolled her shoulders, shaking the tension out of them.

"Hold on, you're saying that's why you didn't smoke him?" Ray asked his boss.

"Wait a second. Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Stop. You're saying that's why you didn't smoke him?"

"No. No, man. The kid was right as far as my position. I didn't have a clear shot."

"I did, I did. I had the shot. I could've brought him in." Jason insisted as Theresa pulled out her water and Cerberus' doggie cookies that she always carries with her and took as seat on the floor next to Brock and Cerberus.

"Hey Cerb," She gave the dog an affectionate scratch around the ears. "I heard you found Samir." She offered him the treats and he took them. "Good job, boy."

"Bottom line, kid saw a guy in an S-vest, saw he had the drop on him, took the shot." Ray said, he and Jason still arguing about Spenser as Theresa drank a few mouthfuls of water.

"White noise right now in my head. I am not hearing you." Jason told Ray as Theresa offered Cerberus another cookie.

"You're gonna call him out in the AAR, say he got it wrong?" Ray paused and Theresa turned to look at him, wanting to see Jason's face. The look on his face said that he was considering it. "Cause you know that's gonna follow him, Jason. Your name in an AAR, saying it was a bad shoot?" Jason exhaled nosily. "Look, you might actually be the best damn gunfighter who ever lived. If not, you're awful close."

"All right, I'm listening now. What was that?" Jason said, voice turning a little smug from Ray's words. Theresa turned to Brock and held up the bag of treats, silently asking if she could give Cerberus more, knowing that Cerberus wasn't allowed more than two treats at a time. He hesitated, then nodded and held up two fingers. The dog did find a major terrorist today. She took out two more treats and closed the ziplock baggie.

"So, if you tell me that even back when you were in Green team you were good enough to give a guy in an S-vest the pregnant pause before smoking him because of where his damn thumb was?" Ray asked and Theresa was woman enough to admit that she would have done the exact same thing that Spenser did.

"Samir's thumb wasn't on the detonator. Thumb was not on the detonator. Did you see his thumb?" Jason was walking up and down, trying to get rid of his frustration.

"I couldn't see his hands."

"I could see his hands." Jason retorted stubbornly.

"You feel honor bound to call the kid out because he missed something that you and a half dozen other guys on Earth are good enough not to miss?" Ray asked after Jason. "Just make sure you're not doing it 'cause of who his father is."

"All right, okay." Jason needed air, before he punched something or someone.

"Or who he reminds you of." Ray said, going straight for the kill. "Nate's death isn't on you." Jason stared at him silently. Theresa knew that Ray's words hit home for Jason. They all knew that Jason blames himself.

"Hell of an op, gents and lady." Blackburn's eyes glanced over Bravo. "Outstanding." Theresa noted Spenser walking past her and Brock. She looked at him for a second longer than she usually would have, before turning her head to her Commander, missing the smirk on Brock's face.

"Thank you very much, sir." Jason answered, not looking away from Ray.

"It was our pleasure." Theresa grinned at Eric.

Blackburn gave her a fond look before going back to bussiness, "Listen, obviously, most of the AAR is gonna be about the chopper problems. Comms we obviously know about. Intel turned out to be solid. Eight enemy K.I.A.s, including one HVT wearing an S-vest. All clean, correct?"

The silence streched for a few seconds, everyone looking at Jason and wondering what he was going to do. "Roger. Eight clean kills, sir."

"It's good work." Blackburn nodded, walking away.

Brock turned to Theresa, a mischievous look in his eyes. His voice was low enough that no one could hear him when he spoke, "So, what's going on between you and that Spenser-kid?"

"Nothing." She deadpanned, giving him a flat look.

"Right," Brock drawled sarcastically, nodding his head for effect. "-that's why he looks at you like you're God's gift to all of mankind."

She cuffed him upside the head lightly, cheeks tinted the lightest shade of pink. "Shut up."

Brock released a loud laugh, but did as she told him.

Theresa turned around and snuck a glance at Spenser, only to find him looking at her already. Their eyes locked. She tried to decipher the look in his eyes, trying to figure out if Brock was right. Then she looked away, shaking her head slightly. It didn't matter anyways. Brock was wrong and she didn't care what Spenser thought about her.

Jason walked up to them, hands on his hip and still looking frustrated. "You coming with me to Emma's recital?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." She smiled at him, it widened slightly when some of the tension eased out of his shoulders. She held out a hand an he pulled her up easily. Then she looked at him seriously. "Look, what Ray said, about Nate and Spenser-"

"I don't want to talk about it." He cut her off.

"Fair enough," She nodded, not taking offense. Everyone grieves differently. Just look at her, she still hasn't talked about Nate. To anyone. "But if you ever want an ear to listen, I'm here."

Jason's face softened. "Thanks, Tessa." He paused for a second. "You know that goes both ways, right?"

"I know." Theresa nodded. Countless nights did she spent one his shoulder crying. Countless hours did Jason silently listen to her as she ranted while she paced up and down.

She really _did_ know.


	6. Chapter Six : Another Scar on Her Soul

**Chapter Six : Another Scar on Her Soul**

"You're here early." Jason commented when Theresa walked into Bravo's equipment room.

"Good morning to you too." Theresa snarked, walking into his cage and handing him of the two coffee's she made in the break room. She saw his truck in the parking lot when she drove in and figured that he was sitting and thinking in his cage. Apparently, he was helping Alana boxing up Nate and Molly's things earlier that morning.

"Thanks," He took the coffee and she walked to her cage that was across Jason's and next to Sonny's.

"How was it?" Theresa asked as she unlocked her cage. Slipping inside, she pulled off her messagener bag, dropped it to the ground Theresa turned back to Jason and dropped down in her own chair inside her cage, looking at him across the way.

Jason knew what she meant. Packing up Nate and Molly's things. "It was fine. Took a turn for the weird and awkward when I asked Alana out for dinner and she said no."

"Ouch." Theresa winced, before checking the time. Her eyes widened and she jumped up.

"So, what gives?" Jason asked, clear wanting to change the subject of conversation.

"About what?" The female Seal ventured as she put her coffee down on one of the four shelves.

"You being here this early." Jason elaborated as she pulled her curtains closed and started to put on her uniform. The guys put the railings up for her as a welcome to Bravo gift. Not that any of them would even try to peep, but they figured that she should have some privacy when she wants to dress and undress. One for her door, and one on each side of her cage. The curtains was a nice light blue, that the guys picked out themselves and Lisa makes sure that it gets washed at least once every three months.

"It's 8AM. What's that supposed to mean?" She frowned, pulling of her shirt and pants, rubbing her arms because of the slightly chilly air.

Jason chuckled lowly, "Means that you never show up here early unless we have a mission."

"Ah, right." Theresa nodded to herself, pulling her uniform shirt over her head. "Well, I have a class to teach in," She shook out her pants and looked at her watch before starting to pull them on. "-17 minutes."

"Look at you, being all grown-up and responsible." Jason teased as Theresa zipped up her pants and slipped her knife into her pants pockets.

"Ha ha." She deadpanned, pulling open her curtains. She grabbed her boots and a pair of bright orange socks. "This is only until Green training is done. Then I'm out." She walked to the table in the middle of the room and hopped up on it, facing Jason as she pulled her legs up and started pulling on the bright socks.

"Gonna do it again?" Jason asked as she started working on her boots.

"Heck no." Theresa scoffed, making Jason chuckle. She shoved her pants inside the legs of the boots before starting to lace them up and tie the laces. "Siever roped me into over seeing obstacle courses and a few other things as well. Which is what we're doing this morning, mind you. So, I guess I'm not teaching them anything today."

"Why did you agree to do it if you didn't want to?" Jason raised an eyebrow at her.

"He was yapping something about it improving my image, not that I give a shit about what the higher ups - expect for Eric - think of me. Eventually I just said yes to shut him up." Theresa shrugged, a sour look on her face.

"I'm surprised that you didn't punch him in the face." Jason noted, half-teasing, half-serious.

"I'd never, he's a good one." Theresa told him, her voice firm and fierce.

"You respect him?" Jason asked hesitantly.

She paused, pondering his question for a few seconds, then nodded. "I respect him enough not to lift a finger to him, no matter how irritating he can get, but not enough to follow his orders." Then she gave a half shrug, tilting her head with the motion. "Who knows, maybe one day I'd get to that point with him like I did with Eric." A rush of pride went through his chest at her words. He was always so proud when she evolved. It may happen at snail pace, but the point is that it happens.

"Right, well, when you get bored, you can always run the course with them." Jason grinned at her, pushing up from his chair and walking over to her. "You know, break down some ego's. Preferably that Spenser-kid's."

"Okay, I don't get your problem with him. Yeah, okay, his dad is an ass, but he's talented." Theresa said, watching as the smile dropped from his face. Figuring that he's not going to pick this fight with her, she changed the subject. "Also, I'm not going to get bored."

The grin returned, eyes teasing. "Ten years of life experience says otherwise." She gave him an indignant look, taking the knife out of her pocket and clipping it to the inside of her boot before jumping of the table.

"I don't get bored that easily." She insisted, frowning over at him.

"Tell that to someone who's toaster you didn't take apart at four in the morning 'cause you couldn't sleep and were bored." Jason retorted with a knowing grin.

Theresa rolled eyes at him and walked back to her cage, "I put it back together, didn't I?" She gulped downed the rest of her coffee before shrugging at him, "And I only took apart your toaster because you wouldn't give me a gun to disasemble."

"You were fourteen!" He exclaimed, pulling a face at her.

"I could asemble and disaemble a gun in under a minute at twelve." Theresa pointed out.

Jason's gaze turned sympathetic, "No twelve year old should know that."

"Doesn't matter now," She waved him off. "The four years I spent living with you, Alana, Emma and later Mikey, gave me some awesome memories to replace all of the bad ones with." She gave him a wide, real smile. "I should get going before Siever has my head for being late."

Jason nodded as she started walking backwards to the door, "Thanks for the coffee."

"No problem." Giving him one last grin, she dashed out of the room and made her way outside and to the obstacle course.

"Well, well, well, look who's early for a change." Adam teased as she walked up to him.

"What, is it pick on Theresa-day or something? First Jason, now you." She huffed, rolling her eyes as Siever chuckled.

"Let's get to work." He said and she hummed in agreement.

An hour later, they were watching as Green team members ran an obstacle course, her eyes flashing to Spenser's figure more than once. She watched him, he was fast as well as a good shot. And if Jason was right and she was terribly bored with standing around and doing absolutely nothing, well, she was never going to tell him.

"What do you think of Spenser?" Theresa asked out of the blue.

Adam gave her a sideways glace,"Why?"

"I think he'd fit well with Bravo." Theresa told him as they started walking to the last check point and the end of this obstacle. "He's a smartass, but we can beat that out of him."

"What does Jason think?" Adam asked after a few seconds of contemplation.

Theresa rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Jason still has his g-string in a twist because of his Ash Spenser's book."

Adam snorted a hearty laugh. "Lots of people do." He pointed out.

"Yeah, well, he didn't write it." The female Seal shrugged, nodding to the course, indicating that she was talking about Clay.

"Personally, I think he'd be a good fit for you guys to. Having someone like Jason Hayes teach him the ropes of Tier One? He'd make a heck of a team leader one day." Siever answered her as they stopped infront of the wooden wall. One Theresa herself has climbed dozens of times.

Theresa didn't say any else, just nodded her thanks to Adam as they waited. Spenser and his buddy Armstrong where the first heads that popped up. Theresa and Adam exchanged glances before turning back to the wall. The female Seal saw Brain pause to help a big man over the wall but Spenser jumped down and started rolling the tyre.

Grunting and breathing heavily, the two Greenies arrive at the end of this obstacle course. "Got some wheels on you, Spenser. Good finish, Brian."

"All right, come on, let's go. Finish it up. Got a big day in front of us." Siever said, walking away and towards the next obstacle course.

"Hey Four." Spenser nodded to her, taking a step closer to the female Seal.

"Spenser." She nodded back. "I know you are trying to be the best and to come first, I get why as well, but being the best doesn't mean jack if you can't work with a team."

"What does that mean?" Spenser answered, frowning slightly at her. She opened her mouth but her phone chimed up. She pulled it out of her pocket and read the text. Mission debriefing for Bravo.

"It means that no one wants to work with a cocky knucklehead that goes about his own way, knucklehead." She gave him a pointed look. "I gotta go." She waved her phone at him. "Duty calls."

"Good luck." He smiled at her.

"Thanks." Theresa gave him a small smile, before walking over to Adam and telling him that she needs to go, Bravo is being called in for an mission.

**SEAL TEAM**

"You're looking at satellite imagery of an abandoned hospital outside al-Hool in North-Eastern Syria." Mandy said as Theresa sat down on her seat inbetween Blackburn and Davis, after making herself a cup of coffee.

"Wait a second, I'm sorry, but there's a lot of tire tracks there for abandoned, I'm saying." Jason said dryly, pointing out what his whole team was thinking.

"We believe the Syrian Army is using it as a bioweapons factory." The CIA Agent told them and Theresa frowned at screen.

"Wait a minute." Ray interupted with furrowed brows. "Weren't they only supposed to be using mobile labs now?"

"I'm sure you all remember Dr. Lucien from our chem-bio desk." Amanda said and the Doctor stepped forward.

"Oh, no, Dr. Death." Sonny drawled and Theresa snorted in amusement.

"Hi again, everybody." The Doc told said and Theresa wriggled her fingers at him in greeting, smile pulling at her lips. He was quirky and she liked him. "Our recent success ID-ing and destroying mobile labs has convinced the Syrian regime to go back to using static sites. And they're choosing hospitals because they think we'll be afraid to bomb. DOD won't authorize a strike without definitive proof that the site's being used for chemical weapons production."

"If it's supposed to be abandoned, what's the harm?" Theresa questioned Mandy, raising a brow. "Not like Syrians can throw their toys out of the cot without admitting what they were doing."

Mandy shrugged, "They're being overly cautious." Theresa huffed at the answer.

"Okay, what does the DOD consider definitive proof?" Jason interjected.

"Physical evidence." Mandy answered and Theresa groaned. This was one of those missions she hated. Give her bullets flying from every direction over dangerous substances anyday.

The Master Chief's eyebrows rose, "Samples?"

"Gets better." Mandy warned.

"So, a satellite passes every seven hours, traverses the area for 12 seconds, takes six photos. Three passes ago, took these." Doctor Lucien said, and the photos on the screen moved to a picture with black shapes. First one only had a few, but the second one had a lot more.

"Those black shapes are?" asked Ray.

Mandy answered, "Dead cattle."

"Well, they definitely had a leak, didn't they?" Jason asked, looking over the pictures.

"Anyone else suddenly remembering when we had to recover one of the CDC's missing virus transport trucks in Mexico?" Theresa asked no one inspesific, looking around the table. She got a nod from Trent and Ray.

"Heavy fighting in the area last few days. We believe an errant shell hit the stockpile." Mandy explained what could have caused the leak.

Theresa looked down on her papers, checked the distance from where they would be to where the fighting is. "20 klicks; that's close." She said.

"Yeah, we'll be monitoring the Syrian troop movements best we can. Get you in and out in a hurry." Blackburn spoke up.

"How big is the guard force?" Ray questioned.

"Uh, so far, we make it a single six-man unit." Doctor Lucien answered him.

"You're telling me they got a chemical weapons factory and there's only six guys guarding it?" Sonny asked, not really understanding what he was hearing. Theresa tilted her head in thought. There was six of them and six hostiles. Seeing as how three, or even two, Seals could take down six guys easily, Bravo have no problem getting into the hospital.

"Yeah, enough that they were missed by the photo analyst. Not for the cows, we might never have found the place." Amanda answered.

"Either they're awfully sure no one would catch them, or they are just real stupid." Theresa noted, looking at the satellite images once again.

Ray looked at the two standing at the screens, "Best guess what they were making?"

Amanda leaned forward and gripped the table with her hands, "Based on the regime's history, sarin or VX."

"One of those is the bad ones, right?" Sonny questioned.

"Uh, sarin is pretty nasty stuff. Bucket full of it, kill every man, woman on the planet. But you're probably thinking about VX. It's widely regarded as the deadliest substance man's ever created." Doctor Lucien explained to them.

"Okay, both of them is bad ones then." Theresa quipped, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked down at the hospital plan that was in their briefing dossier. Taking over the hospital would be easy, they could take down the guards and get the samples. Problem is the Syrian troops that was fighting nearby. If they get so much as a whiff of their presence, they're done for.

"So, we're gonna actually have to handle this stuff?" Ray checked with them.

"I better update my will." Theresa commented dryly, running her hands over her head and pulling out her elastic band. Sometimes, the short hair was still a little strange for her. Pushing those thoughts away and focusing back on the conversation, she quickly tied her hair in a messy bun at the base of her neck.

"Do you even have a will?" Trent asked from behind her, amusement in his tone.

Theresea spun to him, "Yep," She nodded. "Got one after Iran." An uncomfortable silence fell on the room at her words and Doctor Lucien wondered what he was missing as guilt flashed on Mandy's face even if the words wasn't directed at her.

"Right, and who says you never take us anywhere nice?" Jason broke the silence with a wry smile.

The mission planning started immediately, Ray and Jason stood up to debate on how they are going get into Syria, while Theresa rolled her chair over to where Brock sat. He grinned at her as Cerberus came and nudged her legs, "How was your class?"

"Boring, they were running obstacle courses this morning." Theresa groaned softly, rolling her eyes and giving Cerberus a scratch around the ears.

Brock's face turned into a look of innocence that the female saw through, his eyes full of mischief, "Did you see your boy?"

"What boy?" Theresa asked, brows furrowed. A second later, realisation set in. Spenser. Huffing she, reached to cuff Brock upside the head. He ducked out of her reach just in time, shooting her a shit eating grin. "He's not my boy." Theresa huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Not yet, you mean." Brock retorted easily, smile on his face widening.

"Not ever, I mean." She snapped back, giving him a dirty glare.

"Denial," Brock tut-tutted, the smile on his face never wavering. "Such an ugly thing."

Her eyes narrowed, "You know what, I think you need to go see Doctor Kruger again. Being delusional can interfere with your ability to operate." Theresa said, her voice matter-of-fact.

"Hey, Meredith and Christina, pay attention." Jason whistled to Brock and Theresa, who immediately turned their heads to him.

Theresa gasped, eyes widening in mock surprise, "You watch Grey's Anatomy?"

"Pay attention." Jason repeated, giving her a stern look. Theresa immediately sobered up and nodded, tuning into the conversation as she and Brock both rolled to the table. The Master Chief started ith the mission planning again, "Look, we can't even get a drone up. I'm just gonna assume we can't chopper in."

"Russians are threatening to shoot down anything that crosses into Syrian airspace." Mandy told them and the female Seal started racking her brain for alternatives.

"What about jumping in, HAHO?" Theresa suggested after a moment of long silence and Jason grinned.

"Oh, yeah. HAHO. We bail out in Iraqi airspace, then fly to the target under canopy." Ray said, walking up to the monitor.

"That's right." Jason agreed. "The problem is getting out."

"How far to the border?" Ray questioned.

Mandy looked at the map, "18 kilometers."

"What's the nearest Quick Reaction Force?" Ray asked, looking at Lisa.

"Special Forces ODA working with Peshmerga at the border." Davis answered.

"Great, it's easy. Have them standing by. Once we secure the target, they come and they pick us up.

Boom."

"Hey, we've been seeing Russian troops on the border areas, yeah?" Blackburn looked at Mandy and the CIA Agent nodded. "DOD will never authorize any ground movement with the possibility of Russian contact." Eric said and Theresa rolled her eyes.

"DOD has no balls." Sonny quipped matter-of-factly, rising from his chair.

"We could get you local vehicles." Mandy suggested.

"How many?" The female Seal asked, looking over at the woman.

"I wouldn't count on more than two or three." Mandy answered.

"Two or three." Jason whispered, holding the numbers with his fingers.

"It could work. We keep our numbers small." Ray said, agreeing with the idea.

Jason considered this and looked at Lisa, "How many straps?"

"Well, it's Syria, so there's no BSO, there's no indig partners. Maybe two EOD's for the decontamination. You don't need a translator 'cause you got Ray and Trent." Lisa informed Jason and he mentally did a head count.

Ray walked over to the table where the rest of Bravo, save for himself and Jason was seated, "Okay, so, two EODs, that's all we need."

"Yeah," Lisa nodded. "And him." She pointed over at Doctor Lucien.

"What?" Ray asked as the whole table turned to the chem-bio doctor.

"It-It-It's not my idea, I assure you." Doctor Lucien told them, a look of dread on her face.

"Another contribution from the good-idea fairies at CENTCOM." Sonny noted sarcastically, throwing some dried fruits into his mouth.

Theresa scowled. This doctor had no field experience and now he was sent somewhere that was practically a warzone to work with deadly substances. "Is there this really neccesary?"

"We have no idea if that factory is still actively contaminated." Mandy answered her.

"Right." The female Seal nodded, clenching her jaw.

"What, the Syrians didn't clean it first?" Ray asked flatly, the look on his face blank.

"As far as we can tell, they just pulled their scientists out and, uh, locked the place down till they can pacify the area." Doctor Lucien told them.

Theresa looked around the table with a sarcastic smile, "So, who's up for playing with the world's deadliest substances?"

**SEAL TEAM**

"I'm sure we all remember the disater with Captain Garvey?" Theresa asked, breaking the silence that enveloped Bravo's equipment cage. After the planning was over, Bravo made their way to the cages to pack their bags and check that their weapons are clean and in working order.

"Yeah, we do, and I'm sure that if the same problem occurs, you'll be more than willing to give Doctor Lucien a kick up the ass as well." Ray quipped with amusement in his tone, remembering how she had shouted at the Captain to get his ducks in a row before she shoved him out of the plane when he froze on a HAHO-ramp.

"Well, that won't be neccessary." Jason said, getting up from his chair in his cage and Theresa looked over at him as he walked over to her and Sonny's cage.

"How's that?" Sonny drawled, shooting a look to his boss. Theresa looked over to the cage on her other side and looked at Brock with a knowing smirk. He shook his head at her with a light smile.

"Because the Doc will be jumping with you." Jason answered, looking and pointing at Sonny. The rest of Bravo snickered at the look on the Texan man's face.

Theresa cleared her throat to hide the laughter in her voice before she spoke, "Right, well, I'm hungry. Any of you wanna join me to consume some of the cafeteria's fine cuisine?" Her voice half-sarcastic and half serious.

"I'm in." Ray agreed, stepping out of his cage.

"Me too." Jason nodded.

"Me three." Sonny grinned as Theresa walked out of her cage.

"What about you?" She asked, looking at the two remaining members of Bravo.

"I'm good." Trent denied.

"Next time." Brock waved at her.

Theresa nodded, "Come on, gentleman of occasion, let's go."

"What the hell does that mean?" Sonny gave her a sideways glance.

"Just what I said." Theresa answered with a sweet and innocent smile, pushing her hands into her pants pockets. Jason and Ray took no offense to her words but Sonny kept mumbling and grumbling the whole way to the cafeteria.

After standing in line and getting their food, the four Bravo members took a seat - Ray and Jason next to each other, Sonny and Theresa opposite them. Theresa took a bite of food and once she swallowed it down, she looked at Ray. "So, Ray, how's Naima doing?"

"Good," He nodded, eyes lighting up like it always does when he talks about his family. "Tired all the time, but that's expected. We went to the doc this morning and said everything was all clear."

"You think of a name yet?" Sonny asked, stabbing his fork at his plate as Theresa took a sip of her orange juice before stabbing around her own plate.

"Yeah," Ray nodded, hesitating somewhat. "Nathaniel Raymond."

Theresa's head snapped to him. She swallowed thickly and placed her fork back down on her plate, appetite gone.

They say time heal all wounds. For Theresa that has been true. For the most part. See, what most people doesn't seem to realise, is that although time heals all wounds, the scars stay with you forever. Her whole life long, she's had to fight. And from those fights, she has scars that serves as a reminder to what she's been through, what she's lost and how she's survived.

Nate Massey's death is a fresh wound that will heal and eventually become just another scar on her soul.

But until then, it's gonna hurt. And it's gonna suck.

Adam Siever's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "All right, listen up, Green Team. Time for the first top five and bottom five of this year's Selection and Training. Today you get to judge each other. One side of your paper lists in order the top five candidates of this Selection and Training class. On the other side lists the bottom five. We'll tally the results. We'll post the bottom five on the wall in the team room. Bottom man in the bottom five will be immediately dropped from this Selection and Training class. Questions?

"Yeah." Spenser spoke up. "How come you don't post the top five?"

"At the Tier One level, top five candidates, just means you met the expectation. Anything else is unsat." Adam retorted.

"So-so guys in the top five, they don't even know if they made the grade?" Clay asked, looking and sounding indignant, and Theresa dropped her head on her palm, letting out a sigh. Did he not hear what she said about being cocky?

"End of this Selection and Training, if you're still here to get drafted into a Tier One squadron, then you know you made the grade." Adam glared at the blonde. "Is that clear, Mr. Spenser?"

"Yeah."

Theresa groaned and laid her head on Sonny's shoulder. "He has no ears." She mumbled.

"What?" Sonny frowned down at her, making Jason and Ray look over at them.

"I told him that no one likes working with a cocky ass." She rolled her eyes, turning around slightly and when Spenser caught her eye, she glared harshly at him. "I don't even know why I bothered, he obviously didn't listen."

"His loss." Ray shrugged, looking over at the blonde as Adam walked over to their table and he and Jason began bickering.

**Author's Note:** Okay, I get that some of you want more Tessa/Clay scenes, but this is still the begining. I write realistically and realistically there is no reason for Clay and Tessa to interact out of his Green training right now. I know the scene for them in the begining is small, sorry for the dissapointed ones, but I try my best to deliever with where the story is at.


	7. Chapter Seven : Trigger Happy Nut

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: I don't know if Brock has a wife in the series or what her name is and I haven't watched season 2 (so, no spoilers please). But in my book he does. Her name is Elena Reynolds, but she won't make an apprearance for a while.

**Chapter Seven : Trigger Happy Nut**

Leaning forward, gravity does it job within a split seconds as it sucks Theresa from the plane. Ice cold air nips at her cheeks, but dispite the cold an exhilarated smile was followed by the burst of adrenaline and excitement she felt. It didn't matter that she has parashooted out of a plane dozens of times before, it just felt as good as the first time.

Theresa pulled her shoot open, bracing herself for the abrupt pull upwards when the shoot was filled with air. Looking through the green haze that her night vision goggles provided, she quickly focused her mind to her mission.

When they unhooked their shoots as they dropped down on the ground, they took off their oxygen masks and Theresa was glad to be breathing normal air again - even if is was a little more poluted than the air back home. Even thought she was used to it, the oxygen mask still made her feel uncomfortable and she prefered to use it only when neccesary.

Bravo quickly and quietly made their way to the hospital. In the silence of the night, the only thing that could be heard - if you searched for it - was the rapid breathing of the team and Cerberus' soft whines everytime he smelt something he didn't like.

The team stopped behind a piece of what was once part of a building as they all took a quick breather. Jason walked up to the doctor as Theresa eyed him, "Hey, I think making these things breathable defeats the purpose. You okay? If I'm a little nervous about walking into a building full of spilled nerve agent, I guess I'm in the wrong line of work, right?"

"You're gonna be okay." Jason tried to assure him but the terrified look on his eyes remained.

Theresa rolled her eyes and stepped forward, gesturing with her head for Jason to move away when she lifted her night vision goggles from her eyes. As much as she loves him, as much as she trusts him and is loyal to him and as fantastic of a job he - Alana helped, but it was mostly Jason - did with raising her through the hardest part of her life, he didn't exactly know how to be touchy-feely with people he didn't know.

The female Seal didn't know either, if she was being honest. It was hard for her to open up to people outside of Jason - even to Alana, Brock and the rest of Bravo and her first shrink said something about forming a life long bond with Jason because she saw him as her savior, which didn't make a lick of sense because she's never been a damsel, but whatever. Point is, Theresa figured that she can't make the doctor any worse than he already was.

"Hey doc," She gave him a smile, flipping Brock off behind her back - making sure Lucien didn't see her - when she heard his poor effort to disguise his laughter, obviously knowing what she was about to attempt.

"Miss Kane." He nodded at her, letting out a shakey breath.

She hid a smile at that, no one ever called her Miss. "Do you think that I'm brave? At any of us are?" Theresa gestured around them to point to Bravo.

"Yeah, I-i guess." He frowned at her, not understanding what she was trying to do. Maybe she was going to gloat about the fact that he's a scared loser.

"You know where bravery comes from?" Theresa asked, raising her eyebrow and tilting her head at him. Brows furrowing even futher, but clearly intrigued when she didn't make fun of him for being scared, Doctor Lucien shook his head no. "It comes when you are afriad but there is no other way but to do the task infront of you and no other person that can do it."

"Is that your twisted way of telling me that you're scared too?" The doctor asked, clearly relaxing somewhat.

"Well, no, not me personally, but, uh, Sonny over there-" She jabbed a gloved thumb in the Texan's direction, hiding the smile that threatened to bloom on her lips. "-he's afraid of a lot of things, still he's right besides us when we walk into battle."

"Hey." Came Sonny's indignant and objecting voice from a few away. She shot him a innocent look to which he only responded with a glahre of his own.

"All right, cut the chatter." Jason ordered them. Sobering up, Theresa nodded to the doc before moving back to Brock's side, petting Cerberus softly. Looking down at the dog, she realised that Cerberus had one of the most adventurous lives that a dog can have. The canine parashooted out of a plane tonight. "TOC, this is Bravo 1. We've reached our target. We're about to engage. Got two guards outside the hospital."

"Good copy, Bravo 1." Eric responded, voice coming through the radio.

"Any word on our Syrian friends?" Jason asked and for a moment, Theresa held her breath.

"Negative." Blackburn replied and Theresa let the air out of her lungs. "Still engaged with the FSA 20 klicks out."

"Copy that." Jason radioed before letting go.

"Hey Jace?" Theresa called out to him, mischievous smirk on her lips.

"Yeah?" Jason answered, groaning internally when he saw the look on her face. He should have known by the tone of her voice that she was going to say something.

"You might want to look up the definition of friends when we get back home." She quipped, getting snorts and snickers of amusement from her teammates. Bravo one rolled his eyes at Bravo six, looking at the doc.

"All right?" Jason asked Lucien and the doctor nodded. The Master Chief turned to Ray and Theresa, nodding once at them.

Taking their que, they kneeled by the half down down wall. While she hadn't lied to Clay on the roof in Liberia about not being Bravo's sniper - that was unofficially Ray's job - Theresa knows that because of her scary accuracy with a knife, she is also a better than average shot with a gun.

"Up right." Theresa said, her voice soft but clearly heard by her team, as she aimed her laser between the guard's eyes.

"Up left." Ray locked on his target as well.

"Three, two, one." Jason counted down and in perfect unison, Two and Six took down the guards armed with machine guns.

Bravo team - and the straps - made their way to the hospital past the dilapidated and half-destroyed buildings, guns aimed and ready to shoot down any hostiles that might come their way. Using bolt cutters to open the lock, they breached the hospital.

Jason and Ray, Sonny and Trent, Brock and Theresa were the pairs that went together to clear the building. Rounding into a room, male-female best friend duo shot down two more guards before moving onto the next room, seeing in a passing room that the last two guards laid dead.

The plan was for Doctor Lucien to go with Jason and Ray, while the two remaining pairs of the team each got an EOD to clear the rest of the building. Bravo split and started executing their mission plan. The were on the second deck when a noise hit Theresa's ears.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who heard it because Cerberus let out an almost inaudible whine while Sonny gestured for them to go in the direction where the noise came from. Theresa tensed, gripped her gun tighter and held it up a little higher as they walked to the room. And if it wasn't for all of her training, then the female Seal was sure that she would have dropped her rifle to the floor from shock.

"Holy Mary, mother of Jesus." Theresa breathed with wide, shocked eyes as she looked around the clearly dying people, dying kids. The sound she heard was coughing, because everyone in the room was coughing. Her anger started to flare up in her chest. Why would the Syrian's leave their own country men and woman to die here?

"What kind of person leaves people alone to rot and die?" Brock asked, the disgust in his tone clear as he voiced what Theresa was thinking.

"Monsters, that's who." Sonny answered, trying to shake his feelings when he looked at the kids. He turned to the straps. "Start the decon."

"Chief Hayes is the one-" The one started, only to get cut of immediately.

"Chief Hayes isn't here," Theresa glared harshly at him, her fuse blowing as she took a step to the strap with an absolutely furious expression on her face. "And when Chief Hayes isn't here, you listen to Ray. And when Ray isn't here, you listen to Sonny." She gestured to Quinn and got even more into the straps face. "Which means, you are going to do what he says, when he says and without objecting or, so help me God, you're gonna be seeing stars."

"You can't tell me what to do." He retorted and Cerberus let out a warning growl at the strap, not liking the way this unknown man was raising his voice at Theresa. Brock scratched behind his dog's ears to calm him down, already what was coming next.

Theresa fist went flying before the EOD could so much as blink, making the strap stagger backwards before the weight of his backpack combinded with the force of her swing pulled him down to the floor. Theresa glared darkly down at him, "We clear?"

The strap clenched his jaw, wincing slightly, nodding tensely. "Clear."

"So, who's gonna tell Jason?" Trent asked, looking between his three teammates. Techically, Sonny was their 3IC and was supposed to do it, but this? Dying woman and children, that wasn't something anyone wanted to tell someone else about.

"I'll do it." Theresa said, walking away to get away from the aggrivating strap. When she was sure that she wasn't in danger of snapping at Jason or throwing a punch at the nearest person, Theresa pressed her radio, "This is Bravo 6. Boss, we need you up on second deck."

"Copy." Jason's voice came through comms not even a second later. She was relieved when he didn't ask anymore. This wasn't something you could discribe, you just needed to see it for yourself to fully comprehend the horror. As a Seal, she had seen plenty of terrible things and had done terrible things herself, but this was one of the worst things she's ever seen.

Theresa walked around the room to count the people as she was trying to assess their conditions. She couldn't tell much, she wasn't even a proper medic. Just knew how to treat open wounds and how to give herself an epinephrine shot if she got peanuts in. But she knew enough to know that all of them looked really bad. A small kid lying on the table made her stop in her tracks and made her heart skip a beat.

When the EOD - the one who she didn't punch - walked up to the kid and gave him a shot of atropine, she took hers out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Give him another."

"What if you get infected?" He asked with raised eyebrows and an expectant look.

"I wasn't asking, I was telling." Theresa glared at him, shoving her Syrette into his hands and turned around and away from him.

Noticing Brock's dark glare immediately - because he didn't do glaring, that was her job in their friendship - she walked over to him with a concerned frown, but raised her eyebrows when she was in hearing distance. "You good?" She asked, even though none of this was good but Brock knew what she meant.

"Fine." He nodded, voice clipped and Theresa blinked in surprise when he walked away from her and to Trent, who was helping the EOD's look over the sick people. She frowned after him, what the hell crawled up his ass and died?

Before she could follow her best friend and ask, Jason and Ray arrived. She could see the horror and disbelief on their faces. Jason looked at each one of his team members, eyes wide as he didn't know how to believe what he was seeing and what to do about it.

Theresa watched him talk to the same kid she gave her Syrette of atropine to and she knew that he saw was she saw when looking at the little boy. People was still coughing all around them, getting closer to death by the second. Casting another glance at her best friend - who still had the dark look on his face - she decided to walk over to Jason.

"Hey, do you know what happened?" Theresa asked her Boss when he stepped away from the boy, because she didn't speak the language. Ray, who had helped a woman to a gurney, walked up to them as well.

"All right, look, as far as I can tell, the kid is saying that the regime took their village from I.S. They rounded them up to work here. All right? Took the military-age guys to join the fight, including his dad." Jason explained, gaze alternating between Theresa and Ray.

"Yeah, well, her husband, too. I mean, she was pretty vague on it. Didn't seem like something I should press on." Ray told them and Theresa shook her head.

"Jesus Christ, how the hell can someone live with themselves after doing this?" Theresa swallowed as her eyes flickered over all of the people again.

"I don't know, Tessa, I really don't." Jason heaved a sigh, turning back to the EOD. "How's he doing?"

"Man, his whole respiratory system's compromised." The strap answered, walking to the three Bravo members. "Plus, if the paralysis of his throat muscles continues, he's gonna drown in his own spit."

"How much atropine you give him?" Jason asked, his hands on his hips.

"Two Syrettes, got one from Captain Stubborn over there." He nodded to Theresa with a slight smile.

"It's Lieutenant Commander." She snapped back with a glare on her face, crossing her arms over her chest. Ray could clearly see in that moment that Theresa Kane was raised by his best friend. He could also see that big heart Jason was always talking about, but no one ever really got to see as she kept it hidden under lock and key.

"Okay, great. Make it three." Jason said, taking out his own Syrette and holding it out to the strap.

"You sure? Might want to hang onto that in case you get exposed." The EOD asked Jason the same thing he did the female Seal.

"Make it three." Jason insisted, pushing the Syrette in his chest.

Jason looked at Theresa, "Got a head count?"

"23 total. Seven kids." She answered, trying to keep her tone even and emotionless.

He turned back to the EOD, "They all exposed?"

"Got to assume so." The strap nodded.

"All right. Can we save them?"

"Some." When all three Bravo members glared at him, he quickly backtracked. "I mean, maybe. But we got to get them fully deconned and to a trauma center, and even then . . ." He trailed off.

"You have any idea what agent we're dealing with?" asked Jason.

"I don't know for sure till Doc gets it in a lab, but my guess is VX." The EOD replied.

Jason frowned at him, "How long is it gonna take to decon?"

"Figure ten minutes each, little less for the kids, because they got less surface area." The Strap answered.

"Okay, look. Get at it, okay? The sun rises in five hours, and when that happens, I want to be somewhere else." Jason ordered the EOD.

"Roger that." He nodded.

Jason turned to Theresa and she raised her eyebrows at him, indicating that she was listening. "Tessa, you keep watch here, trade look-out shifts with me in an hour."

"Yes, Sir." Theresa nodded and Jason and Ray walked away. She looked at the EOD with a frown. "So, you got a name, or do you prefer EOD or Strap?"

The man chuckled and stuck his gloved hand out to her, "Aaron Hale."

"Theresa Kane." She shook it, then she glanced at the EOD she punched. "That moron your partner?"

"Thankfully enough, no." He answered with a grin before walking over to the next woman that needed to be decontaminated. Theresa stayed by the little boy's side, watching over him.

**SEAL TEAM**

"Chief Hayes," The strap that Theresa punched called out to Jason, making the man halt in his steps when he was about to go relieve Sonny.

"Yes?" Jason rose his brows.

"You need to keep your attack dog on a leash."

His head turned to the direction he spotted Brock and Cerberus when he entered the room. "He is on a leash."

"I'm not talking about the literal dog," The EOD sighed irritably. "I'm talking about her." He nodded to Theresa, who was kneeling besides the small kid that Jason was sure reminded her of Mikey as much as it did him.

"Excuse me?" Jason asked, both him and Ray raising their eyebrows at the tone the EOD was talking in about their sister.

"She punched me." The strap cried indignantly, pointing to his purple jaw. Jason surpressed a sigh. When he saw the bruise earlier, he was more than a little sure that it was Theresa's handiwork.

"What did you do?" Jason asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Why are you asking me this? I'm the victim here, you should be reprimanding her." He said, pointing a finger to Theresa, and Ray snorted when Jason glared down at the man.

"Tessa loves to throw punches, I know that, and she'd be the first one to admit it right after me. But I also know that she never, never throws a punch without reason. So, I'm going to ask you again, what did you do?" Jason put his hands on his hips, took a threatening step forward.

"That big dude," The EOD pointed to Sonny. "Told me to start the decon and I started to tell him that you weren't here. Then she-" He threw a heated glare in Theresa's direction. "-got in my face and told me that if I didn't shut up and do what he says, she'd punch me."

"I'm gonna guess here and say you didn't do what she said?" Ray asked with raised eyebrows.

"No, I didn't." The man shook his head confidently. "Who does she think she is to tell me what to do?"

At those words, Jason took another a step closer, the look in his eyes deadly. "Her name is Theresa Kane. She is a Navy Seal and a member of Bravo team, just like the rest of us. You? You're a strap. You don't have a place on this team and you don't have a say, but she does. She does have a say. So, when she talks, when she tells you what to do, you damn well listen."

**SEAL TEAM**

It was daylight. It was daylight and Bravo was supposed to be getting out of Syria, the exfil time was in a few minutes. But they weren't even attempting to exfil because the higher ups gave the order to leave those 23 people behind. After being relieved from look-out by Trent, Theresa made her way back to the floor where the rest of Bravo - minus Trent - was. There, she was told that their Captain refused to send extra transport for the people and that they were supposed to leave them behind. So, Jason called a team meeting.

"So, we completed our mission." Jason said as the whole of Bravo - plus the two EOD's and Doctor Death - was standing in an abandoned hallway. "As your ground commander, the only lawful order I can give right now is for us to make exfil. But I'm not gonna give that order. I'm also not gonna give the order to stay. So anybody who wants to leave can get in those cars downstairs and they can drive straight for the border. I'm sure it'll be a nice Sunday drive by now. The rest of us are gonna stronghold this position against a very large enemy coming our way. I expect, once we're engaged, the Green Berets at Sinjar will respond to our TIC. Otherwise, if they don't, pretty sure we'll be overrun."

"You don't think we became frogmen and woman because we didn't secretly all want to be Batman and Catwoman?" Sonny asked after a moment of long silence, nobody making an attempt to leave. "Come on now." He said and recieved chuckles from all around the room.

"Actually, I wanted to be Supergirl." Theresa leaned forward and grinned at him, her smile fading when she noticed that her best friend didn't so much as blink at her from where he stood across from her. What the hell was up with him?

Everyone turned to Doctor Lucien, who hasn't given an answer yet. "Well, you guys wouldn't miss me in the fight, let's be honest." Was the first thing he said. "But I also know you wouldn't send me alone, so instead of having eight men here to hold off the descending hordes of bad guys, you'd be down to, what? Six? Maybe five? So, while I don't know if having to go through the rest of my life haunted by your faces not to mention those poor souls behind us is a fate literally worse than death, I also don't want to find out, so I'm staying."

"Good job, Doc." Theresa whispered, holding her hand up for a high five. Lucien slapped his palm against hers and she noticed that his hand shook a little.

"Okay, so let's do this." Jason said, snapping into tactical mode right away. "Three shooters on the roof. Three down below. Let's get everybody away from the windows inside, all right?"

Bravo moved to the room where all of the sick woman and children was lying and moved them to a corridor with no windows. The team split in two - Jason, Ray and Sonny staying downstairs while Theresa, Brock and Trent took the roof. Cerberus was left downstairs to guard the sick.

Brock and Trent each took a corner of the roof while Theresa took place right in the middle. Knowing where their enemy would becoming from, gave them somewhat of an advantage when it came to mission planning.

Casting a glance at the two who has been best friends since the day they met, Trent could feel the tension between them even from all the way on his corner of the roof. He wondered what happened because they were fine on the flight to Syria - playing rock-paper-scissors to keep themselves busy in the silence as the pre-breath oxygen masks prevented them from being able to talk.

"You gonna tell me what's wrong with you?" Theresa asked, eyes not moving from her scope as she kept looking for the first signs of the enemy. He didn't answer her and she lost her patience. "Brock!" She all but shouted, lifting her head from her scope and looking over at him, eyes wide and full of hurt confusion.

"Not now, Tessa." The canine handler snapped at her, not even glancing at her.

"When then?" She shot back, slightly irritated with him as she burried the hurt she was feeling. She didn't even do anything wrong.

"Bravo Four, this is One." Jason's voice crackled through Trent's radio before Brock could answer her.

"Go for Four." Trent answered, warily looking over at his team mates, who listened as well.

"Exfil right now, Green Berets are inbound and enemy is 2 kilometers out." The Master Chief said and relief slammed through the three with the power of a tsunami.

"Roger that, Bravo One." Trent grinned.

"One out."

The three Bravo members shouldered their rifles and ran down to the second deck of the building. Brock whistled for Cerberus and secured the dog to his belt loop. They all started helping hostages to the vehicles, running to and from the building. Theresa was on her third and last run when a loud explosion rocked the building.

Rubble crashed down around her and she quickly picked up the woman and threw her over her shoulder - thankfully she wasn't that heavy - and made a run for it. All those hours of weight lifting and running hills with her equipment bag paid off right now.

Outside, she handed the woman off to one of the Berets and got onto the vehicle that Bravo was on. She sat on the back with Brock and Sonny, gripping on of the handles for dear life, while the latter of the two men was holding the machine gun. Theresa did a quick head count and came up with four. She immediately knew who was missing. Jason. She turned back to the building, ready to jump of the truck and go look for him when she saw him running to them with the small boy in his arms.

Theresa breathed a sigh of relief when he got in and they started driving away.

"Blow it, blow it." Jason ordered in a loud shout, over the roaring gun fire and explosions that was propably from RPG's.

"Fire in the hole." Hale screamed back and detonated the bombs they set in the hospital. Theresa watched as they building collapsed and crumbled into itself, feeling a little satisfied.

Above her head, Sonny was shooting like a mad man at their enemies. The gunfire both to and from their enemies stopped and Theresa was able to relax fully as she sagged against the wall of the vehicle behind her.b

Looking at Sonny's satisfied face, Theresa huffed a chuckle. "Trigger happy nut."

"You know it, little lady." He gave her a soft look in return.

SEAL TEAM

A loud, ear deafening squeal left the usually cold and composed female Seal's lips right before she tackled Ray into a hug. Theresa pulled away from him with a sheepish look on her face, glancing around the plane. She saw Bravo looking at her with smiles while the rest looked more than a little startled by the sound that left her mouth. "Are you serious?"

"I take it that's a yes?" Ray laughed happily at the delight on her face.

"Hell yeah, it's a yes." Theresa nodded excitedly. Blackburn, Davis and Ellis walked over to them to share their well wishes for the birth of Ray's baby. When they finished talking, she looked at them and puffed out her chest a little. "Guess what?"

"You punched one of the EOD's?" Lisa asked with a raised eyebrow, mischief shining in her eyes and lips quirking up ever so slightly - giving her amusement away.

"Well, yeah," Theresa nodded, not really bothered or surprised that Lisa knew, the woman knew everything. "-But that's not what." She waved her off with a slight shrug.

"What is it, Tessa?" Eric asked, knowing that that was what the female Seal wanted them to ask her.

"I'm the Godmother of Ray's new baby." Theresa announced proudly.

"Congrats." Amanda smiled at her and Theresa just nodded curtly. She could be professional during missions, but the mission was done and she didn't have to have to play friendly with the CIA Agent anymore.

"I thought you hate kids." Blackburn pointed out with a frown.

"As long as they're not my own and one of my brother's," Theresa nodded in Bravo's direction - who was opening beers. "-I can handle them." Lisa laughed and Eric shook his head while Mandy left the group. The three talked amongst themselves as the plane took of back to America.

When Lisa and Eric excused themselves with the reasoning of paperwork, Theresa made her way over to the cooler of beer and grabbed one for herself. She stood up staight from being crouched next to the cooler and saw Jason motioning her over to him.

"Hey Godmother." Jason grinned at her, although Theresa noticed that his smile was a little tense, as he raised his beer to her.

She snorted when his words registered, "What's up, Godfather?" The Seal retorted as she clinked her bottle against his, knowing that Ray wouldn't have asked anyone but his best friend to be his baby's Godfather.

They both drank, Jason taking a longer pull than he usually would. Theresa rose her eyebrows in question and Jason let out a sigh, running his free hand over his head. "Tessa, you can't go around punching people whenever you feel like it."

"I know that, Jace." She nodded, ducking her head an avoiding his eyes a little.

"Oh, you do? Cause I wasn't all that sure with the flying fists that's been going around lately." Jason commented sarcastically and Theresa rolled her eyes.

"He was being a dick and time was running out." The female Seal defended herself.

"I know that," Jason nodded. "But what are you going to do when he reports you?"

"I'll fight it." Theresa shrugged easily.

"What if you can't? What if they take you off the team?" Jason asked, taking a step closer to her.

She swallowed as doubt began to nag at the back of her mind. "They won't." But her words didn't sound all that confident.

"What if they do?" Jason asked, voice stern and harsh and holy shit. What if they did take her off the team? Theresa's eyes widened and a lump grew in her throat. She didn't want to be taken off Bravo. This was her home and the guys are her family. "I don't want to lose you, Tessa, you are a valuble member of this team, but you are also my family. This team won't work without you anymore than it would work without me."

"That's not true." Theresa protested vigourously, shaking her head and taking a step back from him. "You're our leader, I'm the help."

Jason sighed again, hating her stubborn side now more than ever. "Tessa, listen to me." He set down his beer and put his hands on her shoulders. "You are going to stop punching people, or at the very least change it down to once every month instead of once every mission." He took a brief pause. "You are a member of this team. An invaluble one. And if I ever hear you trash talking again, I'm going to make you run hills and drills for the rest of your life. Got it?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Got it." She smiled at him, some of the weight in her chest lifting.

"Good." Jason nodded with a smile, squeezing her shoulders once before letting her got. "Now go make up with Brock, it's weird when you two aren't joined at the hip."

Theresa rolled her eyes, but did as he said. She walked over to her best friend and Cerberus, taking the ball that the canine offered his master and throwing it. Brock still ignored her and she sighed. Okay, if the bear didn't want to talk to her willingly, then it was time to poke the bear.

"What are you glaring at?" Theresa asked, knowing he was glaring at her. Brock didn't say anything, but the way his jaw clenched told her that he was pissed.

"Don't play dumb, Tessa, it doesn't fit someone as smart as you." Brock snapped at her and she barely concealed a flinch at his harsh tone.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the pang in her chest which she knew came from her best friend being so short with her. "Okay, what did I do?"

"You gave away your atropine." Brock all but growled out, rounding on her with furious eyes. But beneath the heat of his anger, she saw the fear.

"You're mad because I saved a kid's life?" She asked, clearly gobsmacked as realisation set in her mind. It all made sense now. He started glaring and ignoring her after she handed the Strap her Syrette.

"No, I'm mad because you put yourself in potential danger." Brock retorted, crossing his arms. Cerberus dropped his tennis ball and nudged their legs. They both ignored him for now. Theresa opened her mouth, probably to argue. "What if it was me? What if I gave away the only thing that could save me from a lethal substance?"

"I would have given you mine." Theresa answered without hesitance.

Brock huffed at his best friend. "You're crazy."

"No, I'm not. Crazy would be to give away your cure when you have a wife waiting at home." Theresa retorted with a pointed look. She heaved a deep sigh, taking a pull from her beer. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? But that kid was dying right in front of me. So, what, huh? Was I supposed to just do nothing?"

"Rather him than you." The curly haired man snapped immediately.

Theresa's eyes went wide with shock, "Okay, I think you should stop talking before I punch you in the face."

"You're welcome to try." He said with a smirk, knowing even as he did so that she could kick his ass ten times over - she's done it before. When she leveled him with a glare she reserved for terrorists, Brock dropped the act and heaved a sigh. "Look, Tessa, you are my best friend and the closest thing to a sister I've ever had. And the idea of losing you, is as terrifying now as it was back in Iran."

Theresa's facade broke away at his words as well, giving him a soft smile. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You could have." Brock pointed out, swallowing thickly.

Lunging forward, Theresa wrapped her arms around his waist with an iron-like grip. Brock wrapped his arms around her, the tight feeling in his chest, that has been following him around since he saw her hand her syrette with atropine away, disappeared slowly.

"You're my brother, too." Theresa admitted with a smile when she pulled away, knowing what Brock meant when he called her his sister. Their bond - it was different that the rest of the team. It was like they were the half to make the other whole. Huh. Theresa had never given their friendship this much thought, but that didn't make what she was thinking anyless true. Maybe Jason wasn't that far off when he called them Meredith and Cristina.

Theresa cleared her throat, fiddling with her beer bottle. "So, according to our Boss, I'm not allowed to take a swing at people's, even when they're being idiots."

"No, really?" Brock gasped with eyes wide in mock surprise.

"Shut up. " She laughed lightly, shoving at him.

"Alright, I'm sorry, Tessa." He sobered up, looking over at her with a slight frown. Theresa got angry really quickly and when she was consumed by it, she usually lashed out physically. Not a good combination for someone that is a Seal and with extended combat skills that exceeds even the Navy's training. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I was thinking," Theresa started, pausing slightly. She wasn't very good at this kind of thing. At asking for help. "You always know when I'm angry, or when I'm starting to get angry, right?"

"Yeah." Brock nodded, not sure where she was going with this.

"So, maybe, you can, I don't know, talk to me about things that calm me down or take me away from the conflict?" Theresa winced at her wording, scratching at the back of her neck. Then she saw her best friend looking at her with wide eyes. "You know what, just forget it."

"Of course I'll help you, Tessa." Brock smiled and Theresa grinned widely in relief.

**SEAL TEAM**

After waiting for the all clear from Eric when they arrived back home, the female Seal decided to head home instead of hanging around base. Theresa was walking to her car, dead tired and internally debating about whether she should sleep first or eat first, when a familiar blonde walked up to her side.

"Hey Four." He greeted, eyes flickering over her and unknowingly searching for any sign of injuries.

"Spenser." She gave him a drowsy half smile and Clay's chest felt warm and gooey.

"How'd the mission go?"

"Well, my best friend was pissed at me for most of it because I gave away the only cure that could save me if I got infected, but we made up on the plane home and we saved 23 people, so all in all, I'd say it was a win." Theresa blew out a breath and Clay looked at her with wide eyes.

He didn't even expect an answer and- wait a second, did she just say that she gave away the only thing that could save her?

Spenser rounded on her, looking down at her with fierce blue eyes, "That was really, really, stupid, Theresa. What would you have done if you got infected?"

Theresa didn't have to say that they worked with dangerous substances. Clay was smart enough to figure it out by himself.

"Then I die." She shrugged easily. Clay opened his mouth to start yelling at her because she couldn't just let herself die, but she spoke up again before he could. "It was a kid, a small little boy that has barely begun to live."

"And what about you? Don't you deserve to live?"

"I've done plenty in my life and I've made peace with the fact that everytime I get on a plane, I could die." Theresa told him, steel starting to enter her tone. She was to tired to muster up a full glare but tried anyways, silently telling him that she was done arguing about this with him. She already got shit from her best friend, she wasn't taking it from Spenser as well. "And it's none of your business anyway, so keep your opinion to yourself."

"Right." Clay nodded, voice becoming cold as well. They stood in the parking lot, staring each other down. Neither willing to give in or to break. The blonde looked into the brunette woman's eyes, saw how exhausted she was and gave in with a sigh. "Goodnight, Four."

He was halfway back to the building when she remembered that he looked like he wanted to say something - something other than ask about her mission.

"Yo, Spenser!" She called after him. He stopped and turned to her with raised eyebrows. "What did you wanna tell me?"

"It's nothing." Clay brushed her off.

"Oh, nothing, he says." Theresa mocked with a fake nod of belief. Then she dropped the look an narrowed her eyes. "I'm tired and sore, don't make me beat it out of you, Spenser."

He walked closer to her, shoulders slumping as he did so. "You were right."

"I'm always right." She said dismissively. Theresa eyed him curiously. "But just remind me again, what am I right about this time?"

"About the no-one-wants-to-work-with-a-cocky-knucklehead thing." Clay answered her, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah," Theresa nodded, realisation setting in. "You got bottom five'd, huh?"

He frowned at her, "News travels fast."

She let out a low chuckle. "Actually, I didn't know until a few seconds ago, but I did know about the vote and that most of Green doesn't like you. Partly because of your cocky attitude and partly because of who your dad is." Theresa shrugged.

"So, so, they wanted to vote me out because of my dad? That's bull. And I can't help that I'm better than them." Clay scoffed, hands waving as he talked.

Theresa shook her head, "Right there's your problem, Spenser. You can't think about you being better than everyone else. You need to work with them."

Clay looked penasive for a few seconds, before he tilted his head down at her. "What about you?"

"What about me?" The female Seal rose her eyebrows.

"When you were in Green, did you work with your team?"

"I tried." She shrugged. "They didn't like me all that much."

"Cause you're a girl?" Spenser asked knowingly.

Theresa smirked, "Because I could kick all of their asses."

Clay laughed and the sound made warmth bloom in Theresa belly.

"I can get that. Intimidating and kick ass. Dangerous combination."

"I am not intimidating." The female Seal frowned, looking somewhat offended.

The blonde snorted in amusement, "You are. Very."

"Whatever." Theresa scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Goodnight Spenser." Then she stormed away from him, not even acknowledging his goodnight to her. She didn't care what he said. She is not intimidating.

**Author's Note:** Yes, yes, the Clay and Tessa scene's for this episode was small, but it will get better, I promise. Also, I've decided to just make Eric a Commander for this story and he is obviously still higher than Tessa and Jason. Again, just roll with my little mistake. This is fanfiction, after all.


	8. Chapter Eight : A Total Moron

**Chapter Eight : A Total Moron**

Theresa was pushing her cart through rows of the grocery store, humming some tune she heard on the radio on her way over in the car. She grabbed milk, eggs, bread, bacon and cheese, knowing that she won't be in the country long enough to use all of the milk before it goes sour, but the rest she could stuff in her freezer until she got back.

"No, just leave me alone." A woman said in a loud whisper. Looking up from the contents of her cart, she spotted a tall man looming over a cowering woman. Her anger flared and she clinged to herself control with all of her might. She was a member of the United States Navy and hitting a civillian could be seen as assult and she would be dishonorably discharged.

She was about to turn around, but then Theresa saw the man grabbing the woman by the upper arm harshly and she decided to step in, but made sure to shove her hands in the back of her denim shorts. "Hey man, I'm pretty sure the lady asked you to leave her alone."

"This ain't any of your bussiness, walk away." The big, burly man snarled at her, but Theresa wasn't scared. She had faced terrorists, looked at the dead or burnt bodies of small children and stared in the eyes of hopeless situations. This man was just a big bully and not someone worth being scared off.

She looked at the woman, saw the fear in her eyes that was begging Theresa to stay and walked closer to them. "See, I can't do that. She said to leave her alone and now it looks like you're hurting her, so why don't you walk away?"

With his free hand, the man reached out to shove Theresa away from him. Years of training and practice allowed her notice the man lifting his hand and she quickly side stepped to avoid the hit.

"Try to touch me again, and you're gonna regret it." The female Seal growled at the man, a killer glare coming to rest on her face.

"Look, I've been nice so far, but you've given me no other choice." Then he let go of the woman and rounded to face Theresa. He took a sloppy swing at her and acting on reflex more so than intent, she ducked, reached up to grab his arm and twisted it behind his back, before the man could even so much as blink.

"Stop struggling against my hold, you are going to dislocate your shoulder." Theresa warned and the man immediately stopped struggling. She looked over the woman properly and saw a fresh blue eye sitting on the right side of her face. Rage flew through her chest and she took a deep breath. "Now, Mister, I think you own that lady an apology."

"Like hell." The man scoffed and Theresa twisted his arm a little harder. "Jesus, who the hell pissed in your cornflakes?"

"You did." Theresa answered darkly. "I'm not hearing anything."

"I'm sorry I hit you, Amelia." The man looked like it physically pained him to say those words and the woman's jaw dropped open. Even though Amelia knew he didn't mean it, it made her feel slightly better.

"That was beautiful." Theresa said flatly, wanting nothing more than to give this man a blue eye of his own, but she knew that it would only lead to trouble for her. "You don't know me and you don't know what I'm capable of and if you have any sense of self-preservation, you wouldn't want to find out. Now, when I let you go, you are going to walk out of this store and pray to God I don't ever see you again. And if I do, then Amelia better not have a mark on her. That is to say she ever wants to see you after what you've done."

Theresa let go of his arm and the man sighed in relief. He turned to her, eyes furious. He opened his mouth, but just closed it again and walked past her when Theresa balled her hands into fists and narrowed her eyes.

"You okay?" Theresa asked the woman. Amelia nodded shakily. "There is a boxing gym five miles east of here. Go there and ask for Randy. Tell him Four sent you for help."

"Uh, that won't be nessacary." Amelia stammered. Theresa surpressed a sigh. As much as she wanted to help this woman, she knew she couldn't get involded because if she ever did see that man again, chances are she would break his nose.

"Yeah, it is. You are small and unless you start to fight back, you are going to keep on pulling the short end of the stick, but you don't have to, so do yourself a favour and go." Theresa said, her voice stern. Then she walked back to her cart before pushing it to the cashier and leaving the shop. She hoped the woman took her advice.

In her car, she rested her head against the steering wheel. How did the world become so screwed up that people aren't even safe in a grocery store anymore? She pulled her phone out of the front of her jeans shorts and hit number two on her speed dial.

"Good morning, Tessa." Brock greeted, his voice way to cheerful for Theresa's taste.

"There is nothing good about this morning." The female Seal bit back with a light huff. "Are you on base yet?" She asked before he asked her to elaborate on her comment.

"Yeah, I am. Unlike some people, I actually show up on time." Brock teased, hoping to lift the mood that he could hear his best friend is in.

"We're Tier One, Brock, the only time we need to be on time, is when we have a mission briefing." Theresa retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Well, you're in a good mood this morning." Brock deadpanned sarcastically. Spend three years being Theresa Kane's best friend and you learn a thing or two about the wonderful Language of Sarcasm. "Also, don't roll your eyes at me, it's rude."

"I didn't." She lied.

"Okay, I believe you." The canine handler snorted. "Don't you have a Green class today? Maybe you'll feel better once you see lover boy."

"First of all," Theresa began, her voice sharp. "He is not my lover and I have no idea where you even got that stupid idea in the first place. Second of all, yes, I do have a class today, but they're only running hills and going through exfil scenario's and it's only at 11H00."

"It's nine." Brock pointed out. "Never mind. We are getting way off topic here. You wanted to ask me something." He reminded her.

"Oh. Yeah. I forgot." Theresa said, minding snapping back to the reason she called her best friend. Tone darkening when she remembered what happened in the store infront of her. "You up for some sparring?"

"Sure." Brock agreed immediately. He knew that tone - it meant she wanted to punch the life out of someone. The male winced to himself, knowing that he would end up with some bruises. When she was angry, Theresa was even more vicious that usual.

"Yeah, say twenty minutes?"

"See you then."

SEAL TEAM

An hour later, the two best friends has been sparring for fourty minutes. Theresa was dressed in an old Navy shirt of hers and running shorts, while Brock wore sweatpants with a bright red t-shirt with the saying 'What are you looking at?'. They were in the middle of their seventh round, Brock lasting this long because after three years of training together, he knew most of her fighting style just like she knew his. Not well enough to use the moves on her, but well enough to hold his own for longer than sixty seconds.

Which is more than anyone else - the rest of Bravo included - can say. And he was quite proud of it. Brock knew that Theresa wasn't completely 'Rage Crazed' yet, so he wasn't worried. When she picked up the collection of knives - that Bravo contributed to on a yearly basis - in her cage an started throwing them while angry, then he'd get worried.

Theresa stepped back and roundhouse kicked him. Brock braced himself, expecting a fist to the ribs or his stomach, but neither of those happened. Theresa dropped to the ground and swiped his legs from under him before he could even step back or jump in the air to avoid it.

"Okay, I'm out." He tapped the mat with the back of his left hand, chest heaving up and down heavily. Nodding once, Theresa made her way over to the punching bags. Brock got up, grabbed a bottle of water from his duffle bag before taking a seat a reasonable distance from her.

"So, what happened?" Brock asked, catching his breath and drinking his water while Theresa furiously punched and kicked the sand bag. He frowned at her, where the hell did she get all of that energy?

"Men are pigs, is what happened." She snarled, landing a few powerful punches to the bag.

"Geez, thanks, Tessa." He gave her a faux smile, watching her bare hands hit the leather. "Mind your strength, or I'm going to be listening to you bitching about split knuckles for the next three days." Theresa, like all of Bravo, hated wounds. Not because they hurt, oh no, but because they're annoying. Spilt knuckles are small wounds and doesn't seem like much, but the more strength you use, the worse they get. And when she can't close her fists all the way because her knuckles are swollen? Man, she can complain your ear off.

"You know what I mean." Theresa made sure to slack a little the force of her punches.

"Yeah, I do." Brock nodded, taking a sip of water. He stood up and held the punching bag still for her. "What did my gender do to offend you on this fine morning?"

"Did you get laid last night?" Theresa glanced at her best friend to frown at him, remembering his cheery greeting when she called him that ealier.

"Don't change the subject." Brock said and Theresa could have sworn that she saw a faint flush on his cheeks.

"Am I wrong?" She raised an eyebrow a him, stopping her punching.

"Did I say that?" He retorted with a pointed look.

"How is Elena?" She asked instead, a smile spreading on her lips. She liked Brock's wife and Elena liked her too. Well, now she did, after she realised that Theresa had no intention of seducing her husband or sleeping with him. Ever.

Now Elena just kind of hates the female Seal when she calls Brock in the middle of the night because she's bored and can't sleep. She hates Theresa even more when her husband leaves their comfy and warm bed to go entertain his best friend.

"Still thinks you should be sent for anger management classes, but she invited you for dinner after I called her earlier to tell her that you're in a mood and asked if she'd make Lasagna for you." Brock snorted, a loving smile tugged on his mouth as he thought about his wife. Then he shook it off and narrowed his eyes at his best friend. "Don't change the subject, Tessa."

"Tell her I'll be there." Theresa huffed before she walked to her duffle bag and grabbed her own water. The two best friends straddled the nearest bench, sitting back to back and leaning against one another.

It was silent for a long while before Brock broke it. "Come on, Tessa, the only way you're going to feel better is if you talk to me."

"Maybe I don't want to feel better." Her voice was petulant and Brock rolled his eyes in exasperation. Getting her to talk was like pulling teeth.

"If that were true, you wouldn't have called me." He pointed out.

Theresa's face fell at his words - he had her there. And he was right anyways, she did want to talk and get the anger out of her system. It's what she asked him to do. She nudged his elbow with hers to let him know that she was about to sit upright - they've done this a few times. bHeaving a deep sigh, she started talking, "I was out grocery shopping this morning, minding my own bussiness, when this woman asks a man to leave her alone. I was going to walk away, keep my nose in my own business when the man grabs her like she's a piece of meat."

"What did you do?" Brock asked, giving her a slightly wide-eyed look. Oh man, he did not like where this story was going.

"I was actually very calm about it. I ask him to leave her alone, like she asked." Theresa told him, a kind of proud beam on her lips and Brock smiled lightly in return. "He tried to shove me, I moved out of the way, but then he tried to take a swing at me."

Brock winced and almost felt sorry for the dumbass who tried it. He - and any man on Tier One - couldn't take a swing at Theresa even if they tried - and they _tried_. And they are all fully trained Navy Seal's. "What did you do then?"

"Then I twisted his arm behind his back and made him apologize to her before threatening to find him if he so much as farts in her direction." Theresa answered and had at least the good sense to look sheepish about it. And okay, yeah, he defenitely didn't like where this story was headed.

"Tessa!" Brock exclaimed, eyes wide. "He's a civillian, you can't do that."

"He is a total moron who gets a kick out of hitting that poor woman." Theresa scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Besides, he threw the first swing."

He gave her a deadpan look, "Because he stood such a big chance going up against you."

"Hey, I didn't tell him to hit me." Theresa defended, nudging his elbow with hers to let him know that she was going to sit upright.

Brock snorted as they pulled apart in unison and spun to face each other, "Don't you mean, try and hit you?"

"Same difference." She shrugged indifferently before glancing at him sideways. "Think you can handle another round?"

"Sure." He nodded in agreement. They got up from the bench and walked to the mat.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Theresa halted in her movement just as they were about to start their sparring. Brock paused as well and nodded his head. "Do you think I'm an intimidating person?"

**SEAL TEAM**

Theresa was glaring. At everything and everyone. Everytime she remembered the resounding 'yes' Brock had answered to her question, she felt anger tore through her chest with the force of a tsunami. It didn't help matters that she was standing in the scorching sun while the person that told her that she is intimidating, is not to far from her.

Jason and Ray were at another check point - having decided to keep a safe distance from her when they made a joke about her anger and she snapped at them - making sure that the teams didn't try to take any short cuts.

"You wanna talk about that dark cloud above your head?" Adam raised his eyebrows at her when he walked up to her, two bottles of water in his hands.

"Nope." She didn't even look at him, but took the bottle of cool water he offered and Siever took it as a good sign that she didn't throw it at his head.

"Okay then." He nodded in acceptace, quietly standing next to her as they waited for the teams.

Spenser's team was last to arrive at the final check point were Siever and Kane stood. The rest of the instructors was standing a few feet away from the duo - no one else had the balls to face her killer glare.

"You miss your exfil window and are now in enemy hands. Congradulations." Adam deadpanned as they all stood breathing heavily, trying to fill their burning lungs with air. "You've won the chance to run it again." He walked over to the blonde, lowering his voice when he spoke. "You know, Mr. Spenser, there is such a thing as being to unselfish. Team's only as fast as its slowest guy."

Adam walked away and Clay looked over at Theresa, who had already been staring at him, the darkening glare on her face catching him somewhat off guard. This was the first time that he had been on the recieving end since of it since the day she called him out on his dirty fighting move with Brian.

"Keep it up, Spenser, and you're never going to make it to Tier One." The venom in her voice was enough to make him falter and make his heart ache terribly. For the first time since the moment it happened, he absolutely hated the fact that he fell in love with her.

Theresa saw the hurt flashing in Spenser's eyes and her anger vanished into thin air, leaving guilt and sorrow in its wake. Immediately she wanted to take back her harsh words. She tried to push it down, not able to break eye contact with him as she hoped he couldn't see the emotions in her eyes.

Theresa couldn't show it or allow herself to feel this. She didn't do anything wrong, there wasn't anything to feel guilt about. It was nothing she hasn't said to someone else on Green team. There is nothing special about Spenser. And yet, tried as she might, Theresa couldn't get rid of the guilt nagging at her mind.

It made frustration well up in her chest, eyes still locked onto Clay's - the female Seal not being able to tear her eyes away from his. Why the hell did she even care so much if this cocky, arrogant, over-confident, blue-eyed, blonde haired idiot, was hurt because of her words?

Her phone chimed and, finally, the female SEAL was able to break eye contact with him.

Reading the text, she was relieved for the distraction of a mission briefing. Purposefully ignoring Spenser's gaze - she could feel his eyes on her body and the realisation caused a shiver to climb up her spine - she looked for Adam.

Only to find him already looking at her and Spenser with curiousity in his eyes.

For some reason, it made her defensive hackles rise. Theresa straightened her spine and looked at him coldly, before saying, "Bravo's being called." And walking away.

On the way to the team room, she thought about Spenser's words to her. Intimidating and kickass. You are. Very. And then her best friend's very clear and confident 'yes' when she asked him if he thought the same. Her anger reared its ugly head once more and she let out an indignant huff as she stomped to the team room, fellow Seal's and base personal stepping out of her way the second they noticed her.

Shoving her phone into the plastic container outside the team room, she ripped open the door with such force that all of Bravo turned to the door. Seeing the thunderous look on her face, the canine handler snorted while the rest of the team - except for Jason and Ray, who was already aware of her foul mood - looked baffled.

Sonny looked at her best friend, "Brock, what's wrong with our lovely little lady?"

"Don't mind her, she's just having a bad morning." Brock waved them off, pulling out the empty chair between him and Trent and gesturing for her to take a seat. Narrowing her eyes at him, Theresa walked over, gave him a overly sweet smile, grabbed the chair and wheeled it to the other side of the table, took her seat behind Sonny, glaring at him before spinning her chair and looking away from him completely.

"Oh you can't seriously be mad with me." Brock said incredulously, laughing a little as Trent wheeled up to take the space where Theresa's chair had previously stood, the medic snorting in amusement.

"I'm not talking to you right now." She snapped, pointedly not looking at him and to the screens, seeing a photo and schematics of some kind of a ship.

"Hey, you asked." He defended, raising his hands a little while the rest of Bravo wondered what the hell Theresa asked Brock and more importantly, what was his answer that made her so angry?

"Well, you're wrong. I am not."

"Yeah, you are."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"AM NOT!" She smacked her hands on the table.

A loud whistle broke up their petty back and forth shouting match, heads snapping to the source.

"Do you need to be seperated?" Jason asked when he had their attention.

They both pulled comical faces at the mere thought and answered in unison, "No!"

"Then quiet down so we can actually get to the briefing of this briefing meeting." He ordered sternly, lately feeling all to much like a dad with two rowdy teenage twins that were constantly at each other's throats where Theresa and Brock where concerned. Then again, Theresa has been like his own since the moment he met her when she was fourteen.

Jason nodded to the CIA Agent and she took it as her que to start briefing them. "The Centaurus, a U.S. flagged research vessel doing oxygen-level surveys in the South China Sea. We think it was hijacked this morning."

"Wait a second, you think? What do you mean, you don't know?" The Master Chief asked, looking a little dumbfounded.

"Well, whoever took it hasn't made contact yet." Amanda answered.

"How do we know anyone took it at all?" Theresa asked with a frown as she looked over at Mandy. "I mean, you just said it's an oxygen-level research vessel. What's to gain?"

Mandy pressed a button on the remote and a clip of a panicked voice began to play. "This is Dr. Vincent Barbour, aboard the research vessel Centaurus. We're approximately 100 miles off the coast of Iloilo. We're being overtaken by what appears to be a gang of- Oh, God! No, no, no, no!" Theresa lowered her head and eyed her dossier that containted more mission information as automatic gunfire and screaming was heard. "No, please, no! What do you want? What do you want? Who are you?" Gunfire and more screaming was heard before the call was ended and only static was heard.

The silence that fell on the door was defeaning and Amanda took it as a sign to continue. "Dr. Vincent Barbour, professor of Ocean and Climate Science at Stanford. We believe it's his voice on the sat recording. Dr. Julia Clark, also from Stanford. These two are due to get married next month."

"There's more photos on your laptops, plus full bios for the scientists. They don't ask crew members to post bios - on the faculty website." Lisa informed them.

"You know that's right." Quinn said and the logistics spesialist hummed in agreement.

"You two best watch the 'exploitation of the working man' talk. People might get the idea you've gone commie." Ray teased good naturedly.

"Oh, please." Davis rolled her eyes as Theresa opened her laptop and started fliping through the photos of the hostages. It was easier to remember little details this way. They don't know what the hostage-takers will do to them.

"What the hell'd you just say?" Sonny grumbled around his toothpick with a slight glare. Laughter sounded around the room, but Theresa didn't join in, her anger still simmering beneath the surface.

"So that's the hostages, and now we come to the hostage-takers, and for that, this is my colleague, Sam Roberts. Sam's the Agency's top analyst on Southeast Asian piracy." Amanda told them, gesturing to the man that was seated atop the table that was besides Jason.

"Wow, you got more than one expert on Southeast Asia piracy. Okay. No offense, bud." Jason deadpanned and despite her bad mood, Theresa snickered loudly at Jason's words, not looking up from her laptop.

"None taken." Sam assured him. "Uh, actually, although the Horn of Africa still gets the most attention, the waters of Southeast Asia have become the most dangerous in the world. Now, the good news for us is that, unlike the Horn, the region surrounding this area is relatively stable. There's just not a lot of harbors for pirates to hole up in and negotiate ransom. Most of the local pros use the Anambas Islands. Centaurus's GPS shows her 400 miles east of Vietnam, headed south-southwest. Puts her in the Anambas day after tomorrow."

"Okay, that's great." The Master Chief said.

"What's the bad news?" Theresa asked, looking up from her laptop.

Roberts was startled by the words of the female Seal. She was staring so intently at her laptop that he didn't think she was listening to him. Obviously, he was wrong. "Excuse me?" He spluttered, much to his great embarressment.

"You said that was the good news." Theresa pointed out. "Now, what's the bad news?" And suddenly the rest of Bravo turned to the piracy analyst, wanting to know the answer as well.

"Well, uh, the bad news is if they turn off the tracking system, they could take the Centaurus anywhere and we'd have no way to track it." Sam told them, watching the different array of displeased looks on Bravo's faces.

"Fantastic." Theresa deadpanned with a light sigh, rubbing a hand over her face.

"How long till we're greenlit?" Jason asked, wanting to get to the vessel before the hostage-takers had a chance to turn of the GPS and disappear.

"Working on it now. Apparently, they're having one of those office politics situations up at CentCom. A couple two stars trying to show who's got more juice." Eric answered him and Theresa made an incredulous sound at the back of her throat.

"You're kidding me, right?" Hayes asked with raised eyebrows.

"I wish." Blackburn denied. "War on terror."

"War on terror, yeah." Jason scoffed ligtly. "We should be airborne right now."

"Well, you know I'm trying." Eric said and Jason sighed.

The Master Chief looked at Theresa and Brock, wondering what happened between the two of them. "You two wanna tell me what's going on between you?"

"It's nothing, just something stupid." The curly hair man told his boss.

The next moment, a paper ball came flying through the air, hitting Brock straight between the eyes. Making the rest of the team hide chuckles by coughing into their fists.

"That was stupid." Theresa glared at him. "Our argument isn't stupid."

"Right, well, are you able to put whatever it is aside, or do I need to ground one of you for this op?" Jason asked, intervening once more, wondering not for the first time what the hell this was about. He had never seen Theresa this angry at her best friend. Come to think about it, Brock is the only person on this team that's she's never been angry with.

Him - because he wouldn't let her out in the field after she got shot in the upper arm, even though the doctor cleared her for active duty.

Sonny - because he asked her if there was something between her and Brock way back in the begining of their friendship and she still didn't do much more than glare at the rest of the team.

Trent - because he was the one who told Jason that she wasn't ready for active duty after the doctor cleared her when she was shot in the arm. (And okay, maybe she lied to the doctor to get back to active duty sooner and she was pissed because Trent figured it out somehow - to this day she still doesn't know how - and was of duty for two more weeks.)

Ray - because he once hid her collection of knives with Sonny as a prank. (She retorted by adding shaving cream to his shampoo.)

Eric - because he wouldn't let her punch an General in the face after he called her Bravo team's weak link. (Although she was more angry at the General than at Eric, but she let out her anger verbally at their Commander - switching from English to Russian to Spanish and back to English as she cursed the General and his mother all the way to the deepest pits of hell.)

Nate - because he disliked the fact that she was so young and a female on their team for the first year or so.

But Brock? Never.

Which is why he is feeling a little out of his depth here.

"No!" Theresa yelled out without being able to stop herself. "You don't need to ground us, I can put my personal feelings aside. I mean, just look at me and Amanda." She gestured to the CIA Agent with one hand. "I don't like her one bit, but I look past that when we're working."

"Yeah, but this isn't Mandy, who you don't like. This is your best friend, who you like very much." Jason pointed out.

Theresa rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "Why are you only talking to me, huh? What about him?"

"Brock doesn't have a temper shorter than Sonny's with a tendancy to punch the person who made him angry in the face, you do."

Theresa frowned at Jason. "Not with him. Not with any of you." She gave a pointed glance to everyone on Bravo, save for Mandy.

"Okay." Jason nodded after a long while of silent contemplation. "But the second I see something I don't like, I'm pulling you both."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: I'm so excited for deployment, you guys!

I know, I know, a bit boring and Theresa being a bitch to Clay, but it is necessary for my story line. You see, either in the next chapter or the one after that.


	9. Chapter Nine : That's Our Girl

**Chapter Nine : That's Our Girl**

Anyone who has spent half an hour in the company of Theresa Kane can tell you that she's a hothead. And most people get an immediate dislike in her because of that. Captain's, Admirals, Chief's and Commanders alike has all felt the burn of her lashing tongue but as long as Jason Hayes - and later on Eric Blackburn - kept her from putting a higher ranking officer in the hospital, the cake eaters at CentCom decided Theresa Kane was worth much more than the occasional bout of trouble she caused and the complaints they received as consequence.

What rarely anyone to no one knows about the female Seal, is that when she isn't being a hothead and she considers you a friend, you will never find a greater friend anywhere on this Earth. Not many people bothers looking past her outspoken and cold attitude or her ability to kick ass.

And when Theresa first joined the Navy, no one every bothered to get to know her. Her fellow Seal's in training and later Green Team members looked down on her and later envied her when they heard that if she makes it through Green, then she would be put on Bravo Team and nowhere else.

So, all in all, Theresa was alone the two and a half years she spent training to become a Seal. Then she met Brock, and he didn't judge her and he didn't make assumptions and before she knew it, he was her best friend. And in the three years she has been on Bravo, they have never really fought. Arguments that was more playful that anything else could be heard at least once a day but other than that, they were the best of friends.

Which is why Theresa was currently walking to Bravo's equipment room to apologize to him. After their mission briefing and planning, the female Seal jogged around the base three times to get rid of her anger. Exercise helps to get rid of her anger once she is pulled out of the flaming haze of fury. Today, she had gotten so consumed in her anger that she took it out on the one person that didn't deserve it. And okay, maybe Spenser didn't deserve it either, but she didn't deserve to be called intimidating either.

"Can we talk?" She asked, clasping her hands behind her back to hid the fact that they were shaking. The rest of Bravo made a point not to look at the best friend duo, but that didn't stop them from eavesdropping intently.

Brock nodded and followed her out of the equipment room. They walked in silence. The canine handler still didn't know what to do with all Theresa's anger - even after three years of friendship.

"I'm sorry." She eventually breathed. They were walking outside, Cerberus having followed Brock out when they left the equipment room.

The words took him aback because he had never heard it uttered from out of her mouth. "It's okay."

"No. No, it's not." Theresa shook her head firmly. Then she let out a sigh,"Brock, I'm sorry. I just . . . I was so angry when you agreed with what Spenser said and seeing as I would never hit you on purpose, I lashed out verbally. And for that I'm sorry. It wasn't fair."

The canine handler staggered back in shock. "Wait a second, this is about Clay?"

"No," Theresa frowned. "Well, not really. I mean, he told me I'm intimidating after Syria and then when I asked you, you said yes. Then I got angry."

"So, this all started because Spenser told you that you're intimidating?"

"Stop saying it like that." Theresa snapped, her cheeks heating up from his incredulous tone, eyes looking at her knowingly. "And yes, it did."

Seeing that she going to bolt from this conversation at any second, Brock tried another tactic. "Why don't you explain it to me? Cause I'm not sure I understand."

"It's really stupid." Theresa sighed heavily before she started talking. "After Syria, Spenser, uh, he called me intimidating. And then when I asked you, you said yes and I don't know why, but it bothers me. I know, that's what I just said, but I can't explain it otherwise."

"Does it bothers you that I think you're intimidating or that Spenser thinks that?" Brock asked gently, knowing that if he pushed to hard, Theresa would slam shut. Just like she scoffed everytime he mentioned her and the blue-eyed blonde in the same sentence.

Theresa opened her mouth then she promptly closed it as she really thought about the question.

"Well, Spenser." She eventually answered, albeit looking like it physically pained her to admit that. "I mean, if it really bothered you that I'm intimidating then our friendship wouldn't have lasted this long. Ergo, it doesn't bother me that you think that."

"But it bothers you that Spenser thinks that?" Brock pressed. Partly to clarify, partly to try and make her see what was really going on here. He didn't have much hope for the second part, but a man could dream.

Theresa huffed in frustration, her cheeks suddenly feeling flaming hot, crossing her arms over her chest. "Didn't I just say that?"

"Look, Tessa, I have known you for a long time. And in all of that time, you've never cared what anyone thinks of you. You brush of their comments and return one that's three times as vicious." Brock himself didn't understand what it was exactly about Clay Spenser that made his best friend care so damn much, but he was pretty sure it had to do with the major organ in her chest that she likes to pretend doesn't exist.

"Do you have a point?" The female Seal gave him a sideways frown.

"My point," He started, waiting until she looked over at him before giving her a sharp, yet serious, look. "Is that maybe you should think about why you care so much what Spenser thinks of you."

"I don't care, it just bothers me." She retorted immediately.

"Bullshit." Brock said before he came to a screeching halt right in the middle of the walkway. It took Theresa three seconds to figure out he stopped and another second to spin to him.

"Excuse me?" She asked, with raised eyebrows.

"You've been moping around for the last week because of what Clay said to you." Brock pointed out.

Theresa pulled a face, "I have not been moping."

"Yes, you have, but that's besides the point." Brock waved her off, not wanting to get off topic. It was never very hard for them.

"Oh, you have more than one point." Theresa gasped in mock surprise, widening her eyes for effect.

"Theresa," Brock started warningly. She would work on his nerves sometimes as much as he loves her. Which is a lot. Theresa just sighed in resignation, the fight leaving her, knowing she was being purposefully difficult.

"You care what he thinks. For some reason." Brock insisted firmly, holding up a hand to silence her when she opened her mouth. "You care so much that you picked a fight with me when I ageed with what he said to you."

Theresa opened her mouth to object for the second time that they've been walking. Then promptly shut it as quickly as she opened it because she came to the terrifying realisation that, holy shit, her best friend is right. For some reason - that she really didn't know why - she cares what Clay Spenser thinks of her. She cares a whole bunch.

Her heart beat sped up up and her stomach churned. Theresa reached her hand out to Brock to steady her, gripping his arm tightly. "Brock, I think I'm going to throw up."

"What?" He looked at her worriedly. "Did you eat something wrong?"

"No," She shook her head. "Just, my stomach feels all funny."

The worry vanished from his face and amusement took its place, the corners of his lips tilted upwards. "Does it feel," The canine handler paused, searching for the right word. "-fluttery, by any chance?"

For a moment, she had a 'what the fuck' expression on her face, but then she nodded hesitantly. "Yeah."

Brock couldn't contain his grin if he tried.

Across the building on another walkway, Jason came to a halt when he saw Brock and Theresa talking . When he stopped mid sentence in explaining about Nate's burner phone that Alana found, Ray whirled his head around to see where what his best friend was looking at.

Ray snorted at the sight, not even the slightest bit surprised that the two had already reconsiled. As far as he could remember, those two never could be angry at the other for to long. Or at all, if he was being perfectly honest. "I so pity the dumbass that tries to make her choose between him and Brock."

"What are you talking about?" Jason frowned at his second-in-command.

"Tessa's future boyfriend."

"Oh, no." Jason shook his head firmly, if a bit frantically. "No more boyfriends for her until she's thirty, or fourty. On second thought, I think fifty would work better."

Ray snorted a laugh, "You do realise you can't stop her, right?"

"No, not her." The Master Chief conceded. "But I can stop the boyfriend."

"Jason," Ray chortled, very amused with his best friend's antics. It was rare to see the ever controlled and legendary Jason Hayes loose his cool composure. "-she will kick your ass."

"I'd rather have my ass kicked than see her crying her eyes out over some idiot that was never worth her time in the first place." Jason deadpanned seriously. Those words made Ray paused for a moment before his mind exploded with questions. The most important one being: when did Theresa have a boyfriend?

"What happened?" Ray asked curiously. In the time they've worked together, the female Seal has never had any romantic interests. Sure, he doesn't know what she does in her time off, but he's sure Theresa would have mentioned a boyfriend by now.

"He left her right after prom because she didn't want to sleep with him." Jason's jaw clenched just at the mere memory.

Ray's eyes narrowed, his fingers suddenly itching for somethingto shoot. "Please tell me you had a chat with him."

"No, but when she came home, the knuckles of her one hand was split." Jason grinned at his best friend.

"That's our girl." Ray smiled in approval. He looked back over at Theresa and Brock , clearly in thought. "You know, she doesn't look like the prom type."

"Oh, she wasn't. Didn't want to do it, but Alana and my then eleven year old daughter, convinced her."

**SEAL TEAM**

"You hungry?" Brock asked out of nowhere, wanting to change the subject. There was no way that he was going to be the one to tell Theresa that she likes Clay Spenser in a romantic way. Not happening in this lifetime. Or the next one, for that matter. She's one of the smartest people he's ever met, if a little emotionally stunted, but she could figure it out her own. He's sure of it.

Might take a while though.

The female Seal eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds, wondering if she should push the subject. Then she shrugged internally. If it was really bad or life-threatening, Brock would have told her. So, what ever the reason is that she cares so much about what Spenser thinks, can't be that bad if her best friend isn't freaking out.

"Nah, you and Cerb go ahead." Theresa smiled, leaning over slightly to give the canine a quick pat on the head. Brock and Cerberus left, going into the direction of the cafeteria. Theresa was making her way back to the equipment cages, when her phone rang. Pulling it out, worry immediately spiked through her heart and she instantly picked up the call, blood rushing in her ears.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, forgoing a proper greeting.

A warm laugh came through the phone. "Everything's okay." Alana assured her and Theresa sighed in relief, her worry disappearing immediately and her heart starting to slow down.

"Oh, good. For a moment there you had me worried." Theresa admitted easily. Alana Hayes was someone that is in almost everyone of her childhood memories. Well, the ones that matter. It seems stupid and disrespectful to put up a front to someone who helped raised her. "How are you?"

"I'm good. You?" Alana asked, her gentle voice a comfort to Theresa.

Theresa shrugged to herself, "Eh, you know how it is. Same old, same old."

"Yeah." Being a Seal's wife, Alana did know. "So, are you busy? With like a mission or something?" And being a Seal's wife, she also knew not to ask to much unless the information was volenteered.

"Uh, no. We're waiting for an op to be greenlit, but until then we're home. Although, that probably won't be for much longer seeing as how there's hostages involved." Theresa immediately cursed herself, smacking her palm against her forehead. "And, I shouldn't have said so much. I'm sorry, Alana."

"Hostages?" Alana asked, sounding rightfully horrified. "You know what, it's okay, I'm just going to pretend I never heard that."

"That would be awesome." Theresa smiled to herself, feeling a little relieved. "Not that I mind one bit, but is there any reason in particular that you called?"

"Is there any chance that you could come to the house? Like, right now. I want to ask you something. In person."

Theresa frowned. That was an unusual request. It's not so much the request to stop by as it is the timing. Alana usually asked her to visit in the mornings - like when she has something to do and couldn't take Emma and Mikey to school and Jason was otherwise occupied, which was a rarity, or when Theresa wasn't to spend some time with her unoffically adopted siblings, which was the case more often than not - or to stop by in the evenings - for dinner.

It doesn't really matter what Alana's reason is since the female Seal didn't think twice about her answer. "Yeah, sure. I got nowhere else to be."

Twenty minutes later, Theresa pulled up in the house she lived in for six years. She wanted to move out immediately after graduating from high school, but Jason and Alana convinced her to stick around until she finished with her Seal training. Theresa agreed - not that it was hard to stop her in the first place, she loves Alana's home cooking. So, she had lived with the Hayes' until shortly after her twentieth birthday and six months before joining Bravo.

The door opened two seconds after she knocked and Alana hugged her so tightly that the breath was nearly knocked from her lungs.

"Nice to see you too." Theresa laughed as she hugged the blonde woman back.

"I missed you so much." Alana squeezed tightly one last time before letting the younger woman go. She knows that Theresa doesn't like physical contact for extended periods of time. The only person she was truely comfortable around and didn't struggle against when trying to restrain her, is Jason. "The last time I saw you was at Landon's communion."

Theresa winced at the accusatory look Alana gave her. "We've been so busy, that I comepletely forgot to stop by."

"Mikey asked when 'Tessie' was going to stop by." Alana teased with a light smile, making Theresa glare half heartedly. "And even Emma wants to see you. Although her way of admitting that was more her claiming that she was right when she said that you would just leave again like you did when you first got here."

Theresa frowned, clearly troubled by Alana's words.

"If we're home on Saturday, I'm taking them both for the day." The female Seal said determinedly. She never wants Emma and Mikey to think that's she's leaving them forever. Because she wouldn't. Not until her last breath. "But don't tell them, in case we're not here."

"Okay." Alana smiled warmly at her, something around her heart easing. She too, even after Theresa has been a Seal for three years, worries that one day the brunette would disappear out of their lives like she did for the first year she lived with the Hayes'. "Come on in, I still have some left over pasta from last night."

Theresa's eyes brightened at the mention of food. She wasn't lying when she told Brock that she's not hungry, but she'd never pass on Alana's food.

Five minutes later, Theresa was sitting on a chair by the kitchen island, shoving forks full of food in her mouth, making noises of appreciation and approval as she did so. Alana watched her in amusement. When Theresa noticed her staring she just swallowed her mouthful before sticking her tongue out at the blonde woman.

"Don't judge, I can't make it as good as you." The Seal defended herself before going back to her almost finished meal.

Alana let out a hearty laugh, her chest warm with happiness. Feeding her oldest daughter - and yes, that is what she thinks of Theresa as, not that she'd ever tell the Seal - was always something that left her feeling overjoyed. Especially given the fact that Theresa rarely to never lets anyone take care of her. When Jason first brought her home, Theresa was so independant, it was painful.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Alana said after Theresa was done eating. The Seal quickly washed her plate and dried it before putting it in it's rightful place in the cupboard. Figuring that's she has given Alana enough time to think about what it was she really called Theresa here for, the brunette turned to her expectantly.

"So, you finally gonna tell me what's bugging you?" Theresa raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

Alana let out a startled laugh. She didn't even know why she is surprised. Theresa has always been quick on the uptake. "What did you think about Nate?"

"Uh," Theresa stammered, caught completely off guard. While talking about Nate wasn't a taboo subject, it still wasn't done. Or more like, it was avoided. Maybe some day, years from now, Bravo could sit back and talk freely about their fallen brother. They could share stories and laugh in remembrance. But until then, until that aching and raw wound starts to close, no one was going to poke at it.

"Why do you ask?" The female Seal eventually managed, avoiding her helicopter mother's gaze. She needed to get herself, her emotions, under control before she could look at Alana. If she didn't, Theresa might just break down.

It's not that she didn't trust Alana enough to let her walls down and allow herself to be vulnerable. Quite the opposite, in fact. Alana has witness her break down over her mother and comfort her as much as Jason has.

Now just wasn't the right time. For one, she could receive the mission greenlight any second. And for two, Alana had clearly called her here to discuss something.

"Just wondering." Alana shrugged. Theresa eyebrows rose and she gave her a skeptical look. She knows the only woman much better than to just take that answer. Alana finally caved underneath her stare with a sigh. "Did Nate seem like the cheating type?"

That threw Theresa for loop. "Come again?"

"It's just, you knew Nate. You spent three hundred days of the year with him for three year. So, you must have picked up something." Alana was half begging, half hopeful. Begging that Theresa would answer her and hoping that the female Seal would not stone wall her like her husband had.

"No, he didn't seem like the cheating type. I mean, sure, he disliked me at first for being so young and seeing all of the ugly and horrible things in the world, but other than that, he was good." Theresa answered honestly, brows furrowing slightly.

"He's not the only one." Alana muttered to herself, but Theresa heard it all the same.

"Care to elaborate on that?" There was no heat in her words, just mild curiousity.

Alana hesitated for a few seconds. "When you first told me that you were going to inlist, I was so terrified. Terrified that you would become just like Jason, that you would shut me out or that I would loose you."

"Alana . . ." Theresa trailed of thickly, rocks forming quickly in her throat.

"But I was wrong. You didn't shut me out or fall into the darkness that can come with being a Seal. Instead, you shined. You shined so brightly and brilliantly and you grew to be such a beautiful woman. It was like, like you were finally in a place where you could fully be yourself. You could fight for what you want without holding back or being scared of hurting those around you with what you can do." Alana smiled and Theresa smiled back. It was watery and small, but it was there and Alana's heart swelled with love and pride.

Theresa had come so far from the stotic fourteen year old that threw once heck of a punch before running away.

However, before Theresa could respond, her phone buzzed. Half dreading to look at it, the female Seal knew she had to. No matter how reluctant she was.

"It's okay. Go ahead." Alana gave her a sad smile.

With her reassurance, Theresa finally took her phone out of her jacket pocket and looked at the text. The message just confirmed what she already suspected. She swore a little when she saw that the vessel was missing.

"I gotta go." Theresa gave her an apologetic look.

"I know." The blonde nodded in understanding. "How long until wheels up?"

"Uh," Theresa glanced back at her phone, reread the message. Greenlit. Centarus missing. Go time: ASAP. Which means . . . "We're taking off as soon as the whole team is on board."

"Timeframe?"

Taking into account flight time plus the time it would take to complete the mission, Theresa said, "Two days, max."

"Be careful." Alana pleaded.

"Always am." Theresa grinned at her before giving her a tight hug.

Alana watched her walk away with a heavy heart. She has done this for twenty years with Jason and for three years with Theresa and still, it never gets any easier.

**SEAL TEAM**

Theresa walked up the hanger of the C-17, her backpack slung over her one shoulder and a takeaway paper cup in the other one. Taking a look around, the female Seal snorted in amusement. She stopped at Starbucks on the way here, swung by the equipment cages to get her backpack, and still made it before Brock, Sonny and Trent.

Out of nowhere, Cerberus shot past her legs and Theresa turned around. And there was the missing three members of Bravo. She waved the trio before turning back to the inside of the plane. Theresa walked past the crates that Jason, Ray, Mandy, Eric, Lisa and Dr. Roberts where standing around.

"Hey guys." She nodded to them as she put her coffee down inbetween Ray and Jason, and got a chorus of greetings back. Remembering the conversation she had with Alana, Theresa made a mental note to asking Jason about it. Alana wouldn't have come up with that question by herself. She quickly set up her hammock next to Jason's, Cerberus laying by her backpack, head leaning on the bag. When Theresa finished with her hammock, Cerberus stood up before looking at the hammock and then at Theresa.

Smiling fondly, the female Seal nodded. She gestured to the hammock with her left hand, "Go ahead, Cerb."

With lighting speed, the canine jumped on the hammock, eliciting a low laugh from Theresa. She pushed her hands into her jeans pockets before walking back to the makeshift desk. She was still in her civvies and would change into her khaki's later on.

"Looks like the pirates have finally figured out how to disable the Centaurus's GPS." Mandy said as Theresa reached the table and picked up her Hazelnut Cappuccino. Knowing that both Jason and Ray dispises anything cappuccino related, they wouldn't have touched it. And Lisa, Mandy and Eric just doesn't have the guts to touch her drink. She is also pretty sure that the piracy expert wouldn't dare to pick up a Seal's coffee. So, she didn't feel the slightest bit worried about leaving it unattended.

"Can't say I'm surprised. Pissed, but not surprised." Theresa grumbled before taking a sip of her favourite drink ever.

"Last known position was here." The CIA Agent drew a mark on a paper map with a red pencil. "By now, they could be anywhere within this circle." She drew a big circle around the 'x' mark spot as Sonny arrived at the crates they were standing by. Theresa glanced around and saw Trent and Brock hanging their hammocks. "And by the time we get you over there . . ." She trailed off, drawing a circle that took up most of the map.

Theresa let out a low whistle as Jason spoke, "I'm sorry. Excuse me. How big is that area?"

"About the size of the continental United States, give or take Ohio." Mandy answered grimly.

"There is no way we're going to be able to find them. Not in time to get to those hostages, anyway." Theresa noted, gesturing to the page with her free hand.

"Yeah." Mandy nodded in agreement, as tense as the rest of the group.

"Well, we have the entire flight to try and figure it out." Eric said before splitting from the group to go and give the order for take off.

Everyone went in their own directions, but before Jason could escape to his hammock for some sleep - like everyone on his team was going to - Theresa grabbed him by the back of his flannel and pulled him to a part of the plane where there wasn't any people around for the disguse of privacy.

"What's up?"

"So, I had a very interesting conversation with Alana before we got called in." Theresa started nonchalantly and Jason's interest was piqued. But when she crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a hard look that reeked of nothing but determination, his stomach dropped and he immediately knew what their conversation was about.

"Oh yeah? About what?" Jason decided to play dumb, trying to by himself some time.

"She asked me if Nate seemed like the cheating type." The female said bluntly, not wanting to play this game any longer. She wanted answers. "You know where she got an idea like that?"

The Master Chief considered lying. He really did, but decided against it because Theresa would know and the only thing it would accomplish is a pissed off Theresa. "Probably because of the burner phone she found."

"Burner phone?" Theresa frowned at Jason. "Jace, what burner phone?"

"She found it in Nate's toolbox when she was cleaning out their garage." Jason explained to the brunette.

Theresa took a slow breath, silent as she processed his words. "You know, I find it hard to believe that Nate would have cheated on Molly. He was reckless and managed to somehow at the same time be uptight, but he was not an adulterer."

"Yeah, me too." Jason agreed with her. "But Ray and I looked at the phone and Nate's nav. The same days he made multipule calls to the only number on the phone, he went to Norfolk."

"What's in Norfolk?"

"Got called in before we could find out." Jason shrugged, just as clueless as her.

"Well, I'm sure there is a reasonable explaination." Theresa said confidently, no doubt in her eyes.

Jason gave her a soft look, "Of everyone on this team, I never expected you to defend him. It's no secret that you two never really got along, differed on everything. Sure, you worked together, had each other's six, respected each other but you always argued about even the smallest things."

"Differences or no, that doesn't change the fact that Nate was a good man and for all intents and purposes, he was my brother." Theresa shrugged before she admitted. "And I really do miss him."

"I miss him too." Jason sighed, pulling her closer for a hug, his chin resting on her head when she hugged him back. "What if it's a woman?" He whispered, dread in his tone.

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?" Theresa squeezed him tightly.

Jason smiled somewhat nodding against her hair. "Okay."


	10. Chapter Ten : Gunshot Wound

**A/N: **I'm not a doctor or a nurse and google is my only friend to research anything medical and injury related. i'm really trying to be as realistic as possible. so, pretty please with a cherry on top, don't butcher me or my story.

**Chapter Ten : Gunshot Wound**

If there was one thing Theresa loved just as much as her family, then it is her job. Being a Seal has never really felt like a job. It was somewhere where she didn't pretend, she just was. And the fact those around her loved and appreciated her for it was a big added bonus. Part of her job, sometimes includes swimming. Which is another thing Theresa loves.

What she doesn't love, is swimming is possibly shark infested waters, but it comes with the job. As she slowly swims through the water - hair in two braids so that it wouldn't come into her eyes as she swam - Theresa grins into her mouth piece that helps her breath underwater and glances through her goggles in Sonny's direction.

If this was a normal exersise instead of a mission, she would have tugged on his leg, if for no other reason than to hear him screech like banshee when he gets to the surface.

They reached the boat and was making their way to the surface when Jason suddenly stopped swimming. The whole of Bravo came to a halt with their Chief, waiting for him to give them a silent order. She watched him signal something to Ray, but the water was to dark to make it out and Theresa waited as Ray signaled Sonny, who signaled Trent, who signaled her and Brock.

Theresa's eyes widened for a second before she mentally scowled. There was hostiles waiting at their infil point. Which means that they would have to swim around the boat and get on the boat from the other side.

Great.

Just freaking great.

On the starboard side of the Centaurus, Bravo surfaces silently.

"All right, looks like the party got a lot bigger than expected, huh?" Jason deadpanned, his voice low but still audible to his team.

"That's what happens when people don't RSVP." Ray responded in mock disappointment.

"People nowadays." Theresa tsked. "No manners whatsoever."

"As opposed to you?" Brock snorted from besides her.

"Never said I had manners." The female retorted instantly, and much more smug than she should have been.

"Cut it out, you two." Jason chided without any real heat - he was just glad to see them back to normal. The last thing he needs right now is a feud between the two members of his team that has never faught before. He looked at Ray. "How long until we reestablish comms?"

"At least a few minutes." Bravo Two answered.

"Our situation has changed. Can't get to the hostages unseen. Gonna have to do this quick and dirty." Jason told his team.

"My two favorite words: quick and dirty." Sonny commented as he started hoisting the hook with a ladder attatched into the air and up the side of the boat, hooking it over the ledge of the vessel.

"I thought it was boobs and beer." Theresa shrugged lightly, the muffled snickers around making her supress a smile.

"On you, Ray." Sonny said with a smile in his voice. Ray made his way up, Sonny following him, then Trent, after him it was Brock and Theresa followed her best friend, and she was followed by Jason.

When Theresa pulled herself up the side of the boat, keeping her weight of her feet so that she wouldn't make any noise when her feet hit the slippery deck, she saw a body. Eying for a second, she realised it was Ray's handiwork. He was first on board, after all.

Her ears caught indistinct talking nearby and her whole body tensed as she gripped her rifle, eyes scanning the boat as fast as she could, spotting and counting hostiles as she went. She cursed under her breath when she noticed that their guns doesn't have silencers.

"Bravo 1, this is TOC. Be advised, multiple hostiles have boarded the Centaurus." Eric's voice came through their comms the moment they reestablished.

"Yeah, we got that." Jason acknowledged. "Moved infil to starboard side."

"Bravo 1, we got 12 hostiles on deck." Blackburn informed them.

"Any visual on the hostages?" Jason questioned, holding up his rifle and eyes scanning the boat as well.

"None topside, but four hostiles just went inside." answered Eric.

"They're rounding them up for transport." Hayes concluded.

"Bravo Team, this is Alpha. We're in position on the stern." Alpha One's - Scott Carter, who was nicknamed Full Metal, for a reason Theresa struggled to get out of him to this day - voice came through the comms.

"Alpha, hold." Jason ordered.

"None of these mopes have suppressers." Sonny noted. "It's gonna get real loud if they start firing."

"There goes the 'stealth' part of our plan." Theresa huffed sulkily. She hates it when their plan goes to shit and they have to improvise. Then again, it's half the job, while the other half is avoiding getting killed.

"TOC, this is Bravo 1. You better get our exfil up and going 'cause this whole island is about to know we're here." Jason radioed in.

"Copy that." The Master Chief said, pausing for a moment to think before ordering, "Alpha, want you to beeline for the bridge. We're going below decks. Stand by."

"Roger that." Alpha One confirmed.

"Move." Jason ordered and like a well oiled machine Bravo moved in unison. For a few seconds, the boat was blissfully silent. Well, as silent as it could be with men talking and laughing nearby as the team of Seal's silently closed in on them, their deaths seconds away.

Then utter chaos erupted when Jason spotted a gunman and shot him down. The moment he went down, a man shouted and gunfire came from all directions. Spotting a gunman walking on the level above them, Theresa shot him down while Ray shot down a hostile that came down the stairs that was next to the door that lead below deck.

"Bravo Team making entry." Jason reported for TOC as the rest of Bravo followed their leader and their 2IC. "Bravo Team making entry." Jason repeated as men shouted in the distance.

"Alpha Team is going to the bridge." Carter's voice came through the comms.

It was silent below deck as Bravo cleared room for room, looking for the hostages. They were halfway through the halfway that they entered from when Alpha one's voice came through their comms again. "Alpha Team is approaching the bridge."

"Bravo 1, this is Alpha 1." Carter called.

"Go for Bravo 1." Jason answered.

"Bridge is secure, over." Alpha One informed him.

"Copy, Alpha 1."

"Bad guys know we're here. Hostages don't have much time." Ray told them all. Jason gave Trent - who was watching their 12 - the signal to move onto the next room.

They were barely down the hallway when Jason's radio crackled, Eric's voice coming through. "Bravo 1, this is TOC."

"Go for Bravo 1."

"Your exfil boats are four mikes out." Eric reported.

"Hold what you got." Jason told him. "We haven't located the hostages yet."

"Can't we split up?" Theresa asked in a whisper as they went down a staircase. "We'd cover more ground that way."

"You see anywhere to split to, little lady?" Sonny grumbled as they cleared yet another empty room.

"It was just a suggestion." Theresa rolled her eyes as they rounded into a kitchen. "No need to be pissy about it."

They cleared the kitchen, walked the short hallway that led to the next room and hit the jackpot. Trent shot down one hostage-taker as he walked into the next room and Jason took down another as the rest of Bravo filed into the room. The last hostile grabs one of the hostages before he could be shot down.

"Hey!" Jason yells at the hostage-taker. "Two and six on me." He ordered before taking of after the gunman and the hostage.

"Vince! Vince! Vince!" Theresa heard a woman wailing and quickly came to the conclusion that it must be the Doctor's fiance.

The three Bravo members followed the hostage taker until their path came to a halt when they hostage-taker locked himself in a room that didn't have another breach point except for the window.

"We breach, the hostage dies." said Ray.

"Can't leave him here." Jason stated and the two nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can talk him out."

"What if I go in unarmed?" Theresa suggested, head tilted in thought.

Jason shook his head vigorously, "No, no, no, not an option."

"He may not see me as much of a threat as you two." Theresa tried to reason in vain.

"Because you're a woman?" Ray asked knowingly, giving her a careful look.

She clenched her jaw, a dark glint in her eyes, but ultimately just nodded. "Exactly."

Theresa absolutely hated it when someone judged her just because of her gender. And to boot, it pissed her of to no end. But right now, if it worked in their favour, she was willing to roll with it.

"TOC to Bravo 1." Mandy's voice over the comms caught their attention. "I have multiple hostiles inbound. Two minutes from the port. You need to exfil those hostages immediately."

"Copy, TOC." Jason replied.

"Bravo 6 to TOC, we have a runner with a human shield." Theresa spat back to Mandy. She heard Trent calling in that she, Ray and Jason were going after the last hostage and hostage taker. Was the CIA being purposefully ignorant of that? Or was she just being a pain in the ass?

Maybe it was neither and because she was ticked off over her spiralling thoughts, she was letting dislike of the spook getting the best of her.

"Copy, Bravo 6." Eric's calming voice came through the comms. He heard the aggitation in Theresa's voice and knew that if Mandy gave her a snappy reply, the fourth of July would have come early this year.

"So much for talking him out." Ray grumbled.

"Sniper overwatch, anyone got a shot?" asked Jason.

"Negative. Bravo has the only breach point." Came the expected answer.

The hostage screamed for help from inside the room. The next moment Jason got this look on his face. Theresa groaned, knowing that something crazy is going to come out of his mouth.

Ray's thoughts seemed to go in the same direction as the female Seal's. "Oh, no. It's that look again."

"It's not the only way in." Jason gave them a ghost of a grin.

Mere minutes later, Brock and Trent was watching the door where the hostage and hostage taker was while Ray, Sonny, Jason and Theresa was up on the deck, near the side of the roped.

Sonny was knotting a rope while Ray and Jason argued lightly amongst themselves.

"Well, that's a pretty tight shot, brother." Ray pointed out and Theresa had to agree. If he was even a milimeter of, the hostage was dead.

"Well, you know what, I've made tighter."

"Sure you have, Romeo." Sonny retorted easily, making Theresa snicker before turning to Jason with a serious look.

"I can make the shot." She took a step closer to him.

"Tessa-" Jason started protesting, but didn't get very far before she cut him off.

"We don't have time to argue about this, Jace. I know you're the Chief, and what you say, goes, but I'm smaller, faster and just as good a shot as you." Theresa held her hand out to Sonny for the rope, eyes locked on Jason's.

Jason caved like a house of cards under her unwavering gaze and her expert reasoning, knowing that even with all of her determination, if he said no, she would step aside and let him do it. He nodded shortly, "Do it."

Sonny handed her the rope and Theresa gave him a grin.

"Bravo 1, this is TOC. You've got trucks rolling up at your dock. They are not friendly. I repeat: they are not friendly." Eric's voice came through comms.

"Fuck." Theresa swore under her breath.

"Ray, Sonny, buy us some time." Jason ordered.

"Copy that." They stated in unison before leaving.

Theresa quickly clipped the rope to her uniform and walked to the ledge. She climbed over board and looked at Jason - who was holding her life line of rope.

"Don't let go." Theresa teased with a light grin.

But Jason didn't smile, eyes and voice deadly serious when he spoke. "Never."

Revving engines, men shouting and automatic gunfire made their way to Theresa's ears as she used her feet as support to lower herself to the window of the room the hostage was being held in. Theresa wasn't worried, she knew Ray and Sonny had her back.

"Bravo 2 to Bravo 1. Not gonna be able to hold them all off." Ray said just as Theresa stopped besides the window. She took out her glock that had a supresser before pushing off the boat and swinging so that she was outside the window. Theresa flicked on her laser and aimed inside the . "Bravo 6, you need to take that shot." Came Ray's voice in her ear.

"Working on it." Theresa answered as she tired to take aim, but the gunman was moving around to much and she was worried about hitting the hostage.

"Work faster." Ray said verging on snappy.

"Can't do a whole lot when my shot is gonna put a hole in the hostage's brain." Theresa shot back, the sound of the water sloshing against the boat echoing in her ears along with her heartbeat. Then, for a split second, the man stopped moving, but it was his biggest mistake and all the time the female needed to pull her trigger and take him out.

"Target's down." Theresa told them.

"Get him out of there. Now." Jason ordered. Trent and Brock breached a second later and she gave them a thumbs up before tugging once on her rope, signaling Jason to pull her up.

Just when Theresa was about jump onto the ground and off the ledge, something hit her right side, the force of it sending her barreling forward and she nearly slipped on the deck. She gripped Jason's bicep to steady herself, cutting off the yelp that wanted to escape her throat.

"You good?" Jason asked with slightly raised brows.

"Slipped." She explained before pushing the nagging feeling that it was something else, to the back of her mind. Bullets is striking and ricocheting around them and she didn't have time to analyse a feeling right now.

"Time to go!" said Ray.

"Bravo team, this is Alpha. We'll cover your exfil." Alpha One informed them.

After that, it was an explosion of gunfire - automatic and otherwise - and shouts and screams as Ray, Sonny, Jason and Theresa ran to the exfil point with the remaining hostages, shooting down bad guys as they went. All the while, Theresa ignored the nagging voice in her head that was screaming that something is wrong. She could figure it out later.

Right now, she needed to worry about getting to exfil and watch her brothers backs in the process.

Not even when they were on the boat, were they safe. The hostiles kept shooting at them and Bravo shot back.

"Alpha boat, coming in hot." Jason informed them.

"That's what I'm talking about." Theresa grinned as she put down her rifle, watching as Alpha boat's automatic gunfire easily took down the hostiles that was shooting at Bravo and Alpha.

"Everybody okay?" Jason asked, eyes glancing over every one of the hostages - mind pulling forward images of the last time he was on a boat. The time he lost Nate.

"Thank you." Dr. Julia Clark said as she hugged her fiance tightly.

"Couple of hostages are dinged up, but overall, we're good." Sonny raised his voice so that he could be heard over the wind.

"Just like we drew it up, huh?" Ray asked with a cheery grin, causing Brock snort and Trent to huff a chuckle.

"That dude is gonna need so much counseling." Theresa muttered, resting her head against Jason's shoulder, suddenly feeling a little breathless and lightheaded, nodding to the scientist that was not only kidnapped and had a gun put to his head, but felt the weight of a dead man on him and warm blood splatter against his skin.

Jason chuckled lowly, wrapping an arm around Theresa's shoulders, giving her a more comfortable position to rest in.

When the boat came to a stop, Theresa's body felt heavy as she stood up, her heart thundering in her chest, but she pushed through the fuzziness that suddenly clouded her mind as she got of the boat and walked the the vehicles that was standing on a port. The drive back to the C-17 was silent and as the last effects of the adrenaline began to wear of, Theresa's side began throbbing. She took a deep breath - hiding the wince that wanted to take over her face and pushed through the pain.

Her eyes wanted to close but she willed them open. She couldn't go down yet. Her family wasn't completely out of harms way yet.

Arriving at the aircraft, Theresa got out of the car, her legs shaking with the effort it took to stood up straight. She clenched her fists and locked her jaw as she looked around. Her eyes spotted Eric and Lisa walking down the hangar of the C-17 with Mandy. Then she moved her head, gaze seeking out each member of her Bravo.

When she spotted all of them, the tight feeling in her chest loosened, but her heartbeat kept speeding up. A smile lifted on her lips as the world around her started to spin.

Safety.

Family.

Protection.

These feelings made Theresa Kane chest fill with a fuzzy warmth and she finally let her eyes close as she succumbed to the darkness, content to let her body hit the ground. The fact that her family was safe and all accounted for was the last thought she had.

**SEAL TEAM**

The moment Theresa's body hit the cement, the whole of Bravo team's hearts halted in their chest and they froze.

Trent snapped out of it first, springing into action and kneeled next to her. The medic cursed himself metally. He thought Theresa looked a little to pale on the ride back to the plane, but he thought she would have told him if she was injured. Maybe she didn't know. He easily spotted the blood on her khaki's. It was on the right side of her abodomen and he saw a gunshot wound on the side of her body, on the area above her hip.

It was probably from a bullet on the boat - which means she's been bleeding this whole time. Lifting her shirt he saw that it only looked like a flesh wound - no bullet stuck inside her. It wasn't bleeding a lot, but taking into account the fact that she's been steadily bleeding since they left the Centuarus, he was feeling very uncomfortable.

Ray snapped out of it next, kneeling on Theresa's left side, asking Trent what he could do to help.

Sonny was third and kneeled by her head. He lifted her head from the cold cement and let it rest on his knees.

Jason and Brock couldn't seem to shake off their shock and stood frozen as they stared at the unmoving form of Theresa.

"I need something to put pressure on the wound." Trent said and the next second, Brock snapped out of his shock and pulled of his shirt before handing it to Trent, who pushed it against the wound.

"What happened?" Eric demanded as he reached them, looking every bit as worried and concerned as the rest of Bravo.

"She must have gotten hit by a stray bullet as we ran to the boat." Jason guessed, just to keep his mind working and off the fact that Theresa was bleeding infront of him and he couldn't do anything about it.

"What now?" Brock asked frantically, looking like he was going to have a mental breakdown any second.

"Well, the wound isn't to deep, so if I can stop the bleed, I can stitch it and hopefully she'll be fine until we can get her back home and to a doctor, but I don't know how much blood she lost." Under his breath he inaudibly muttered, voice full of dread. "If she lost to much."

"What if it doesn't stop bleeding?" Ray asked, chest constricting because he had some idea what the medic's answer would be.

"Trent." Jason barked, finally snapping out of his stupor, hands clenched into fists in an attempt to stop them from shaking.

"She could go into hypovolemic shock." He uttered, thankful that he didn't trip over his words.

"And now, for the medically retarded, in English please." Sonny groused with a glower in Trent's direction.

Trent looked from the one fear filled face to another, a shakey sigh falling from his lips as he pushed to the wound with all of his might, hoping it will be enough for a clot to form so that the bleeding could stop. "She could bleed out and die."

Everyone on Bravo felt their hearts drop at the answer.

"Right now, I'd really like her to wake up." Trent told them, looking away and swallowing past the bile in his throat. He's seen gunshot wounds and treated hundreds of them. This time wasn't any different.

Except it was.

Because this wasn't just someone with a gunshot wound.

This was Theresa Kane, his kickass friend, his team mate who - despite being so young - walks into battle with them every time. Has their backs without blinking, would jump infront of a bullet for anyone on Bravo, because beneath her ice cold attitude and fiery glare and extremely short temper, lies a soul full of light and a heart of gold that he has no idea she maintains in their line of work.

He slapped against her cheek, called her name. Over and over, again and again, until she let out a pained groan, eyes starting to flutter.

"That's it, little lady, come on, open your eyes." Sonny coaxed gently, fingers running over her damp and still braided hair in what he hoped was a soothing motion.

It took sometime, but when she did, unfocused and tired and pain filled as they was, everyone present let out a sigh of relief.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

I hope this was okay.

Sneak peak for the next chapter:

_"Get your hands the hell of me."_

_"You just said-"_

_"Yeah, that wasn't a real offer. You never heard of sarcasm before, Spenser?"_


	11. Intoxicating

**Chapter Eleven : Intoxicating**

Nothing could get Theresa Kane to lie down in a bed. Not even a gunshot wound in her side.

And it was driving Bravo nuts.

"Tessa, you're being unreasonable." Jason crossed his arms over his chest, glaring right back at her.

The rest of the Bravo was hanging around Theresa's hospital bed - Cerberus laying on the bed by her left side - watching the exchange with wariness and awe. Wariness because both Theresa and Jason looked like they were about to deck each other - when, really, neither would ever lift a finger to hurt the other. Awe because Jason wasn't backing down from her killer glare - not many could hold her gaze when she had this particular look on her face.

They were back home and Theresa was in the base infirmary. After she woke up on the cement, Bravo carrid her to the C-17 and laid her down on the crates and used it as a makeshift gurney. Luckily for her, a blood clot formed and the wound stopped bleeding. Trent was able to start an IV line and after giving her two shots of morphine, Theresa was out like a light for the whole plane ride.

She was the perfect patient.

Until she woke up.

The female huffed, "I've been stuck in bed for two days, Jace. Two days. I'm fine. If I gave to sit in this bed for a third day, I'm gonna be a loon at the end of it."

"You were shot. You needed a blood transfusion because you lost 30 percent of you blood. You almost died, Theresa. If you lost anymore blood, you would have died." Jason fumed, hands gesturing to emphasize his point.

"I almost die everyday." Theresa shrugged her left shoulder nonchalantly and Jason's eyes narrowed dangerously. But that look had about as much effect on Theresa as her killer glare had on him. "Besides, if it was you in this bed, you would have been out of it yesterday."

"The doctor said you had to take it easy for at least 7 days and at most, 10 days."

"Yes, exactly. Take it easy. Not stay in bed the whole day."

"That quack was to scared to tell you to stay in bed in fear of getting punched." The Master Chief gave her a pointed look. Sometimes Theresa forgets about her reputation around base and her famous short temper.

"Then he shouldn't be a doctor on a base full of Navy Seals." Theresa retorted, somewhat petulantly. Snickers were heard from around the bed, causing the female Seal's lips to twitch upwards. "Besides, Trent said it's fine to move around so long as I don't pick up heavy things or try to shoot a gun or throw a knife."

At that, Jason couldn't aruge anymore because he trusted his medic. He could, however, shoot him a betrayed glare, to which he just got a smirk in return. "Okay, but I'm hiding all of your knives and guns for the next two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Theresa screeched in horror. "How is that fair?"

"That is how long it is going to take for you to be cleared for active duty. Might as well take advantage of it." Jason gave her a smug smile that knew no bounds.

"Why can't you just stop mother henning me? You're worse than Lisa." She glanced at the woman that was standing inbetween Sonny and Eric. "No offense."

"None taken." The petty officer assured her with a light smile.

Theresa looked back at Jason, "Don't you have a mission you that needs your attention or something?"

"We're off rotation because our girl is down." Jason informed her, smug smile widening.

Theresa pulled a face and rolled her eyes, "You can function just fine with five men."

"Yes, we can, little lady," Sonny was the brave one to butt into their conversation. "Is that we don't want to."

"That's really sweet and all, and I love you guys to the end of the world, but you're starting to smother me a little." Theresa crossed her arms over her chest, careful to hide the wince that wanted to escape when her stitches pulled at the small action. "So, shoo." She gestured to the infirmary enterance with her head.

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but something in her gaze must have changed his mind because he promptly shut his mouth and nodded before leaving reluctantly - reminding her to call him if she needs help getting around. The rest of Bravo - with the same reminders as Jason and well wishes - left after the Master Chief.

All but one.

"You can go to, you know?" Theresa told her best friend, voice soft and gentle. The bags beneath his eyes told her that he hasn't left her side once since she's been brought in. Which matches up with memories of the last two days. Well, what she can remember around the morphine. "Go home, see Elena, eat. Oh, and shower. You stink." She wrinkled her nose for effect.

"And what are you going to do?" Brock asked, cocking an eyebrow at her knowingly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Theresa deflated even though she should have known that she wouldn't be able to pull one over on her best friend. A sigh slipped past her lips as she admitted, "I was just going to the cafeteria. Stretch my legs and get some fresh air."

Brock snorted, "Jay is going to have a fit."

"How about you let me worry about Jason?" Theresa rose her own eyebrow at him.

"What if you faint again?" Brock challenged, reminding her of when she tried to get out of bed the first day - high as a kite on pain meds - and collapsed to the floor once more, taking ten years of his life time. Again.

"Cerb can come with me." The female bargained hopefully, knowing that it was futile to argue that that was day one and today, is day three. By her side, the canine's ears twitched at the mention of his name and Theresa rubbed her hands over his fur.

"Okay." Brock agreed, albeit looking like he'd rather play in traffic than letting her walk to the cafeteria on her own.

"Thank you!" She rejoiced and the blinding grin he recieving in return made him feel a teeny tiny bit better about leaving her. "Now, go."

Brock huffed before looking at his dog, whistling once to get his attention. "Cerberus, stay with Tessa."

"Yes, yes, he understands. Now go and get some rest." Theresa verbally ushered her best friend excitedly with a bright smile on her lips.

"When you're done eating, you get some rest too." Brock told her sternly.

"I've been resting for the last 48 hours, unlike you."

"Tessa." Brock's tone held a warning.

"Yes, mother, I will come back here and rest after I'm finished eating. I promise." Theresa snarked light heartedly, knowing that his mother henning - just like the rest of her team's - comes from a place of love and concern.

Brock finally left, looking back at his best friend over his shoulder ever two seconds as he did. Cerberus followed his master with his eyes, but did as he was ordered and stayed by Theresa's side. She gave him an affectionate head rub.

"Come on buddy, let's go get something to eat." Theresa sat up straight and didn't bother hiding her wince when pain shot through her side on the right side of her body, the area above her hip throbbing somewhat. She pushed through the mild pain and rubbed a hand slightly over the bandages.

"Let me tell you something, Cerb, there is nothing sweeter than freedom after being couped up in a bed for a small eternity." Theresa told the canine as she walked down the hallways and made her way to the cafeteria. She breathed in deeply, happy to have air fill her lungs that wasn't tainted with the sharp and sterilized smell of the infirmary that reminded Theresa all to much of a hospital.

Footsteps coming closer to her from behind pulled Theresa out of her thoughts. She waited for the person to walk past her, but he or she never did. Frowning, she subtly slowed her pace and heard the footsteps do the same. Her frown deepened. Someone was following her. It wasn't her brother's, she knew how each on of them sounds - even when they try to sneak up on her.

Curiousity got the best of her and mid-stride, Theresa whirled around to see who it was. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she spotted Spenser - who froze with a deer-in-headlights expression on his face. He shook himself out of it and tenatively took a step forward, only to back up two steps when Cerberus gave a warning growl and stepped infront of Theresa.

"Down, Cerberus. He's alright." Theresa looked down at the dog as she spoke, making sure her tone was deep and commanding, just like Brock taught her. The canine listened and retreated back to the female Seal's side.

Theresa turned her gaze to Spenser's, she would never admit it out loud, but she likes his intense blue eyes. Her pulse spiked ever so slightly and her cheeks started to heat up as they continued staring into each other's eyes.

"Word around the base is that you got shot." Spenser said out of the blue, breaking the silence that fell on them so suddenly, that for a second, the woman was startled.

When she processed the words, Theresa's eyebrows rose in surprise for the second time. "Well, hello to you too, Spencer."

"Can you just give me a straight answer." Spenser asked shortly, looking more than a little worked up, clenching his fists by his sides.

"Good Lord, whoever said men doesn't gossip, obviously has never worked on a base before." Theresa rolled her eyes. Her brows dipped when the blonde didn't even crack a smile from her teasing words. His expression just remained blank, eyes expectant as he waited for an answer. "Yes, it's true."

Spenser inhaled sharply, exhaled shakily. The blonde licked his lips, Theresa's attention pulled to the action for a milisecond, before he asked, "Where?"

"Right there." She motioned to her wound with her left hand.

"Is it deep?" He asked, eyes locked on the place where she gestured to.

"Not realy, got some stitches and lost some blood, is all." Theresa shrugged her left shoulder, knowing that if she used the other one, she would pull at the stitches and it would start throbbing.

"If the pain worsens, or if it swells or it becomes red or goo comes out of the wound, then you need to see a doctor. And if your fever goes above 100, you need to go to the hospital. And you need to keep the wound clean and dry and make sure to change the dressing daily. And don't forget to apply some antibiotic ointment before you re-dress it." Spenser rambled, hands fidgeting as he spoke.

Warmth spread through Theresa's chest when she noticed the concern written plainly on his face.

"Wow, Spenser. Thank you so much. I mean, it's not like I haven't been shot before. Wanna take a look too?" She snarked, not wanting him to see how affected she is by his concern. Not when she didn't understand it herself or know why.

"Yes, please." Spenser nodded and stepping forward. He grabbed her shirt and pulled it up, ready to inspect the wound for himself.

"What the-" Theresa cut herself off with eyes blown wide in shock. She started slapping at the blonde's hands, getting a whiff of his scent and it made her want _more_. "Get your hands the hell of me."

Spenser's brows pulled together in confusion, "You just said-"

"Yeah, that wasn't a really offer. You never heard of sarcasm before, Spenser?" Theresa backed up, she needed breathing room, his intoxicating scent was making her head spin and her stomach feel that same feeling when she realised that she cares what Spenser thinks about her. What did Brock call it? Oh, yeah. Fluttery. Her stomach was fluttering. Why, though, she had no idea.

"Oh." Clay said sheepishly, ducking his head and rubbing his neck.

"Yeah, oh." Theresa echoed with a somewhat mocking, somewhat satisfied smile.

It was silent for a moment, "Can I see?"

"No, you can't." Theresa denied and suddenly felt the need to explain herself when his face fell. "Trent will have my head if the bandages is moved again."

An amused smile pulled on Spenser's lips as he asked, "Again?"

"I, may have, pulled it off once or twice, or seven times and he had to redress it everytime, cause I don't like the base doc and they wouldn't let me do it myself." Theresa admitted, giving him an innocent smile. Spenser snorted a hearty laugh and the female Seal couldn't stop herself from joining in.

When they stopped, Spenser bit down on his bottom. He looked into her eyes, wondering if he should say it - and risk getting a fist to the face - or just keep quiet. Throwing caution to the wind, he admitted, "I was kinda worried."

Warmth spread through Theresa's chest again and this time she took a second to analyze the feeling. It was strange, yet it made her feel heart beat speed up. But in a good way, unlike when she lost blood. In fact, she likes this feeling. She likes it every much, almost as much as she cares about what the blonde infront of her thinks about her.

Theresa offered him a warm smile in return for his concern, but couldn't resist teasing him a bit. "I kinda noticed."

Clay's breath caught in his throat. He has seen her smile before, but never was it aimed at him. Until now. And it was breathtakingly beautiful. Suddenly, the smile dimmed and Clay wanted nothing more than to put it back on her face. Then he frowned, because Theresa suddenly seemed nervous. No, that couldn't be right. She wasn't the type to get nervous.

Theresa cleared her throat and adverted her eyes from his, "About what I said the other day, I shouldn't have."

Spenser realised this was the closest he was going to get to an apology. Not that he was looking for one to being with. Remembering his conversation with Brian a few days earlier - right before the rumors that Lieutenant Commander Four was shot during a mission started to circle the base - the blonde shrugged.

"You were right." He admitted easily.

Theresa nodded. She knew she was right, but she had no bussiness being so vicious to him because of her anger. "Still, I could have worded it better."

"It's fine. Really." Spenser gave her a wide smile, eyes sparkling. The fluttering feeling deepend and warmth spread through her chest again, while something grew its roots deeper into her heart.

Composing herself, because Clay Spenser was just a guy and she works with guys everyday and there was no reason to feel so off kilter, Theresa shoved her left hand into her pants pocket.

"So, I, uh, I was heading to the cafeteria." Theresa jabbed her right thumb behind her, gesturing in the general direction of the cafeteria. Clay nodded, but didn't say anything, obviously not catching her him, so she elaborated. "You can join me. If you want."

Spenser's jaw dropped opened and his heart beat skyrocketed as he was stunned silent and his mind raced with questions.What did this mean? Does she like him the same way he likes her? Well, he much more than likes her, but that's not the point. Oh, man, he is such a freaking goner when it comes to Theresa Kane. And so stupid. He was also over thinking it.

"People will talk." He blurted when he could form words again and he wanted to hit himself in the face. Theresa rose her eyebrows in question. "A Greenie and a Lieutenant Commander eating together? Come on, Four, that's gonna raise some brows."

"Maybe to your face," Theresa smirked, caring more about his answer to her offer than the gossip that will most definitely circle the base. "But not to mine."

"You seem really sure about that." Spenser noted.

Her smirked turned cocky, something which Clay found that ridiculously hot because normally her face was either completely stotic or housed a terrifying glare. "I dare you to find one person on this base, just one, that will say something to my face because we ate together."

"Do you like it when people are afraid of you?" Spenser blurted. He hoped she didn't take offence to his question.

Theresa shrugged, trying for indifference. In all honesty, she wasn't really bothered by his question so much as she was bothered by her answer. "I'd prefer it if they respect me, but in this all boys club, I'll take what I can get. And if fear is the only way for them to stop pushing and shoving at me, then I'm not going to change my ways anytime soon."

"You mean the whole big, bad, scary mean girl thing you have going on?" Spenser rose a knowing brow.

"It's okay, you can say bitch. I've been called that before and I'm going to be called a bitch again." She gave him an amused look. "And yes, that's what I meant."

"I don't think you're a bitch." He protested immediately.

"But you think I'm intimidating?" Theresa couldn't help but retort. That remark still bothered her.

"Yes," Spenser nodded. The female Seal locked her jaw and adverted her gaze. "-but in a good way."

Something inside of her chest loosened and she could breath a little easier for the first time in weeks. A thought struck her and she looked back at the blonde, tilting her head in curiousity.

"Are you afraid of me?" Theresa eyed him hesitantly.

"I get the feeling I should be. I mean, I've seen you break someone's nose for calling you unqualified, but strangely, no, I'm not." Spenser shook his head, giving her that boyish smile of his. The fluttering in her stomach returned.

"You should be." Theresa agreed. Then she hesitated. Later, she would blame her next sentence on the morphine. "But I'm glad you're not." The female Seal pursed her lips, avoiding his deep blue eyes that seemed to reflect every emotion he was feeling. "So, are we eating or not?"

Spenser's mind short circuited a little when Theresa said 'we' and he distractedly answered, "Yeah."

The wide smile that automatically spread on her face made her cheeks ache a little and Spenser's heart tripped. "Well, lets go then."

They walked in silence, sneaking glances at each other when they weren't looking. Arriving outside of the cafeteria, Theresa leaned against the nearest wall, slightly out of breath.

Spenser's concern flared up and both he and Cerberus was at her side in an instant, hand gently coming up to rest on her left shoulder. He made sure to keep his grip light, giving her the option to shrug his hand off. "Four, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just give me a second." She nodded, closing her eyes briefly as she caught her breath. Unconsiously, Theresa leaned into his touch and closer to him. Usually, when people she barely knows touches her, she wants to punch them in the face and get far away from them. And never, ever is someone outside of Bravo allowed in her personal space bubble.

Theresa promptly ignored the annoying little voice in her head that said the few inches of space between her and Spenser was to much and she could close the remaining distance.

"Maybe I should take you back to the infirmary." The blonde suggested, worry shining brightly in his eyes, the feeling eating away at his stomach.

Her eyes snapped opened instantly and she shook her head fiercely. "No, no. I'm fine."

"Four-"

"Spenser, I was shot three days ago and lost a lot of blood. And although I'm fine, really, my body is still healing. My mind and determination can only take me so far when I don't have the rush of adrenaline pushing me." Theresa gave him a stern look when he opened his mouth.

"Which is exactly why you should go back and rest some more." The blonde tried to reason with her, deep down knowing it wouldn't bear any fruit.

"You sound just like my brothers." Theresa huffed, rolling her eyes at Spenser. "I've done far more, in a far worse condition and, mind you, on much less sleep."

"BUD/S?" Spenser guessed.

"Yep." Theresa nodded, giving him a lazy grin. "Come on, I'm hungry." She pushed herself of the wall and they walked into the cafeteria.

The moment people started noticing who exactly just entered the cafeteria, the whispers started. Theresas rolled her eyes. Good grief. This was worse than high school. She continued walking to the grill line - Spenser on her one side and Cerberus on the other - and paid no attention to the eyes that followed them.

"This way." Theresa gestured with her tray of food to an empty table in the middle of the cafeteria.

Spenser stopped in his tracks, eyes widening comically. "That's Bravo's table."

"You're gonna end up with us anyway." The brunette walked back to him and nudged him in the side with her left elbow.

"If I make it through selections." Spenser reminded her.

"You will." Theresa said, no doubt or hesitation in her turn. It made Spenser's cheeks heat up and his heart sing.

"And then Chief Hayes still has to choose me." He pointed out.

"He will." That tone, that firm and confident tone that left you with no choice but to believe her. And if this was about any other topic than the Jason Hayes, the blonde would have easily believed her.

"I don't know if you noticed, but he doesn't like me very much." Spenser gave her a somewhat bitter smile.

"Oh, don't worry, Spenser," Theresa gave him a sideways glance as they walked, a light look on her face while the corners of her lips twitched, but no smile made an appearance. If they were still outside in the hallway, she would have given him a smile, but there was to many eyes right now and she really didn't want to give them anymore ammunition for the rumor mill. "Jace will pull his g-string out of a twist by that time. Promise."

Clay snorted in amusement before trying another excuse. "You could get into trouble."

"Oh please, if they try it, I'll just pull the 'I got shot' card." Theresa informed him smugly.

"That's mean."

"I never claimed to be nice."

"Then what exactly are you?" Spenser pondered playfully, having no problem to smile at he.

"A human being, just like you." Theresa answered in a deadpan voice.

"You sure about that? Cause you seem more like the female version of Jason Bourne to me."

"Okay, that's an exaggeration." The female Seal rolled her eyes, leaving out the part that's she has heard that one before. And, like before, she thought the comparison was ridiculous. Theresa was good, great even, but not like that.

"I've heard the stories about you." The blonde told her.

She rose her eyebrows at him, "And you believe everything you hear?"

"No, but I bet most of it is true."

"Probably." Theresa admitted with a nod of her head, putting down her tray before taking her usual seat. Spenser went to take a seat next to her. She gave him an amused look. "So, you have a problem with people gossiping and sitting at Bravo's table, but not a problem with sitting next to me."

Spenser froze for a second before a perfect explanation came to mind. "You said you lost a lot of blood. You could faint."

Theresa pulled a face at that, picking up her glass of orange juice. "I had a transfusion and I've been sitting in bed, doing nothing but healing, like a good patient for the last two days. I may still be low on energy, but I'm not going to collapse at any given moment."

"I could still happen. Hypothetically." Spenser said, eyes alight with amusement and lips twitching upwards to smile again. The blonde found it very easy to smile around Theresa when she wasn't training him or putting up her mask of ice.

"Hypothetically, the Sun could suddenly stop shining and everyone on Earth would die a slow and miserable death." Theresa smirked at Spenser. "I'm not worried about their of those things happening."

"You can be very persuasive when you put your mind to it." He noted matter-of-factly.

"I didn't put my mind to it." Her smirk widened.

"That's a scary."

"I know, I know, I'm great and scary." Theresa nodded, picking around her carrots and peas. "Old news, Spenser, get over it and eat."

"They're all staring." Spenser noted, glancing around. He fiddled nervously with his fork.

"I can see that." Theresa glanced around, glaring harshly when she met someone's eyes. Quickly, the eyes watching them lessened.

"Doesn't it bother you?" He asked, keeping his eyes on his plate.

"No, why would it?" She frowned at him. What did bother her, was that it made Spenser uneasy. She shoved a spoonful of peas and carrots into her mouth, chewing slowly and looking around the cafeteria to glare at anyone that looked at them.

"I don't know, maybe because it could damage your reputation." The blonde still kept his eyes on his tray.

Theresa swallowed just before snorted, suddenly very amused as she turned her head to him. "Trust me, Spenser, being seen with you can only improve my reputation."

Spenser's eyes snapped to hers. "What does that mean?"

"You are a very . . ." She paused for a moment, gesturing with her spoon as she thought over her words. "-desirable bachelor amongst the majority of the woman on base. Our age and older."

He looked surprised. "Really?"

"Really." Theresa nodded with an amused smile on her face. Her smile dropped and a frown took its place as she watched Spenser's eyes flicker around nervously. "You really need to stop worrying so much about people think of you. You're never going to get anywhere if you let what people think of you hold you back or bring you down."

"How do you do it? How do you not care what people think about you?"

"Oh, that's easy." Theresa gave him a bright grin, forgetting about all the eyes that could see her smile at someone other than Bravo. After all, she doesn't care what they think of her. And she could easily deal with rumors. So, she let her smile shine at Spenser and told him how she's made it thus far. "People who doesn't know me, can't make a fully informed decision about me, so what they end up thinking of me - based on self-drawn conclusions, assumptions and the little bit they do know about me - doesn't bother me. And given the fact that I don't have a very high opinion of most people on this base, I can't exactly blame them."

Spenser's eyebrows rose. He didn't expect such a long and honest answer from her. "Huh."

Silence fell on them and while Theresa starting eating some more, Clay didn't. He just kept staring at his food as he was caught up in his thoughts. "Something wrong with your food?"

"No." The blonde shook his head. "Just wondering."

"About?" Theresa questioned with a light frown as she scooped up some mashed potatoes.

Spenser hesitated for a long while, "When I make it onto Bravo, could we be friends? Like, for real?"

Theresa stilled before she turned to her companion. Slowly. Eventually she replied to him. "I already answered that question."

"But-"

"Eat your veggies, Spenser, it's good for you."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** this was the longest Claresa scene yet (THANK YOU TO THE ONE WHO CAME UP WITH IT.) im shit with shipnames. i hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	12. Alarm Bells

**Chapter Twelve : Alarm Bells**

"Okay, what flavours do you want?" Theresa asked when it was their turn to order just as she scanned the rows and rows of ice cream flavours.

Seeing as how Theresa was grounded - along with the rest of Bravo - for the next two weeks because of being shot, the woman decided to make good on her promise to Alana and took the kids out the first Saturday of her two weeks of healing. So, here they were, in an ice cream shop after she took them for some McDonald's.

"Bubblegum!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly, eyes glittering as his gaze alternated between the ice cream and the female Seal.

"Vanilla." Came Emma's much quieter and reserved reply, half hidden behind the older woman.

Theresa turned back to the teenage boy, who's name tag read Ace, behind the counter - he kept eyeing Emma and thus making her uncomfortable - with a killer glare, stepping fully infront of Emma. She was immensely satisfied to see him take a step back.

"So, Ace, could you stop staring at her?" Theresa asked, her voice low. The boy nodded shakily, eyes staying on the Seal dispite the fact that he was scared shitless of her. He was probably more scared of what Theresa would do if he looked back at Emma. "Fantastic." She gave him a cold smile, her voice overly cheery. "Now, we'll have one bubblegum and one vanilla ice cream and one caramel milkshake."

Theresa paid before making her way to a booth with her entourage, eyes scanning the resturant for any trouble. This might not be a mission, but these two kids are more important than any mission could ever be. And if anyone wanted to hurt them, then they'd have to do it over her dead body.

Mikey sat next to Theresa and Emma sat across from them.

"So. Tell me everything. What have I missed?" Theresa inquired with an easy smile.

Mikey took that as his que to start talking. "Not much, school is so boring. It's just homework, homework, homework." He pauses for a moment before his eyes brightened. "We got a subsitute teacher because Misses Henderson had a baby and two of my class friends had their birthdays. Oh, Darren tried to punch me, but I ducked away just like you taught me, Tessie!" He babbled, clearly proud of himself at his last sentance.

"Nice, buddy." She cheered, holding her palm up for a high five that he eagerly smacked his smaller one against. Then her face shifted into a more concerned one. "Mikey, why did Darren try and punch you?"

"Because I told him that he's a dumbass that doesn't know anything after he said that daddy is a killer because he's in the Navy." Mikey shrugged as if it didn't bother him. Which, considering the fact that he didn't hit back - and he defenitely could because Theresa taught both him and Emma basic defense moves - it probably didn't.

It did, however, bother Theresa. Where did that kid get of calling Jason - and indirectly her - a killer because of their jobs? Sure, they do kill, but that isn't something they do lightly. And they do it so that everyone here at home - that mouthing of kid included - would be safe. Being in the Navy, being a Seal, is who she is. And this kid attacked who she is at her very core - the fact that he did so indirectly didn't matter.

Feeling more than a little insulted, she mutterly darkly, "Next time he taunts you, go straight for the nose."

"Mommy said fighting isn't good." Mikey told her with wide eyes, just as a waiter came to their table with the ice cream for them and the milkshake for her.

"You leave mom to me." Theresa smiled at him reassuringly and earnestly. The smile widened when Mikey just nodded happily at her - somehow seeming lighter than he was moments before - before digging into his ice cream. She turned to Emma, who had been quiet the whole time. "What about you, Em?"

"Fine." Emma answered, picking at her ice cream with her spoon and not even looking at the Seal.

The smile fell from Theresa's face. She cleared her throat before speaking, "You know, if you didn't want to come, then you should have just said so. I wouldn't have been mad."

At that statement, Emma looked up sharply. "No, I wanted to come." Her eyes pleading with the woman to believe her.

"Then what is going on with you?" Theresa asked with a sigh, desperation in her voice as she looked at the blonde. "Because you've barely said a word to me."

"You almost died and you didn't tell us. We had to hear from dad." She spat out the words angrily and the Seal got some clarity as so what was going on with the blonde. Why she was being so distant.

"You're mad at me, then?" Theresa asked, just to be sure.

"Yes." Emma nodded.

At this, Mikey looked up from his ice cream and spoke to his sister through a mouthful of the frozen goodness. "That's not fair, Em, it's not Tessie's fault she got shot."

"It's fine, Mikey, Emma can be mad at me if she wants to be." She may have spoken to the younger sibling, but she looked at the older one. Silently letting Emma know that it was okay to be mad at her. Then she looked back down at Mikey. "You can be mad too."

"I'm not mad." He told her instantly, bright and honest eyes looking up at her. "I'm just glad you are okay."

"You and me both, kiddo." Theresa ruffled his hair before turning her attention back to the blonde girl. "So, you're mad because I didn't tell you?"

"No, I'm mad because I could have lost you." Emma countered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, sweetie." Theresa sighed, finally understanding why she was getting the silent treatment. She stood up and rounded the table to sit down next to Emma. "I hate to break it to you, Em, but dying is an occupational hazard of mine." She teased lightly, wrapping an arm around Emma's tense shoulders.

"Doesn't mean that I have to like it." Emma grumbled sulkily, but didn't pull away from the Seal.

"No, it doesn't." Theresa conceded with a nod. "But it is a fact."

"An unfortunate one." She pouted, albeit looking much more at ease than before. Like something inside of her had finally settled down.

"Maybe." Theresa shrugged, not agreeing with her. She could think of no greater honor than dying while protecting or saving her brother's. "You know what else is a fact? There is the fact that I love you two so much. There is the fact that as long as I'm alive, I will always be there for you. There is the fact that as long as I'm breathing, I will fight to come home. Good enough for you?" She glanced from sibling to sibling.

"Yes." Mikey nodded, attention quickly turning back to his ice cream. Theresa gave him a fond smile, looking at him while giving Emma some time to process. Eventually, she looked at the blonde with raised eyebrows."

"Yeah, it's enough." Emma finally said with a small smile, looking at the woman that is practically her sister. "But I'm never going to be okay with the fact that you might not come home."

"I'd never expect you to be." Theresa said and the small smile on Emma's face turned into a wide, relieved grin.

Reaching across the table, Theresa grabbed her caramel milkshake and sipped on it, completely content to listen to Emma rambling about the really cute boy in her class that had chocolate coloured hair and forest green eyes and this really cute top she wanted to buy for herself.

**SEAL TEAM**

A week later, Bravo team walked into their war room. Looking around, all of them were confused. There was no one in the room. No Blackburn, no Mandy and no strap that they eventually get stuck with. All of the monitor screens were black and it was eerily silent. They were all busy intheir equipment cages - today Theresa's two weeks of healing was over - waiting to be called in for an op. The whole team was restless - two weeks of doing nothing tends to have that effect on Seal's that is used to not sitting around for more than a few days.

Then Jason had gotten a text that said he needed to be in the war room at 11H00. Seeing as no one else got a message - which was weird - the Master Chief just asked the whole team to come with him. Maybe they forgot to notify the rest of the team.

"Any of you know what this is about?" Trent asked as Theresa took her usual seat next to Brock.

"Nah." Sonny shook his head.

"Mission?" Ray guessed as Cerberus curled up at Brock's feet.

"Nope, shrink hasn't cleared me yet." Theresa shook her head. Everytime one of them gets shot - no matter the fact that they were Tier One and trained to do this - they had to under go a psychological evaluation. To see if they were traumatized or suffering from PTSD.

"Why not?" Brock asked, turning to her with concern in his eyes. Was there something wrong with his best friend that she was hiding from them? Surely she knows better than that.

"I don't know." Theresa shrugged innocently. A little too innocently.

Jason immediately caught on that, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Tessa, what did you do?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again as she thought very carefully about her words. "Alright, I might have pissed her off. A little bit."

"Theresa." The Master Chief growled, clearly out of patience. "**What. Did. You. Do**?

The female Seal winced, before resigning herself to come out with the truth. "She _mighy have_ been a little angry after I _may have _ I told her that psych-evals is more traumatic than any bullet wound ever could be."

Silence.

Complete and utter silence filled the war room for one long second.

The next second, the whole of Bravo burst out laughing because that was just such a _Tessa_-thing to say. Unable to help herself, Theresa joined in on the laughter.

All traces of laughter and humor vanished when Eric entered the room, followed by Doctor Tina Drake - Theresa's shrink - and Captain Anderson.

_Uh oh_. A higher up could only mean trouble.

Instantly, the whole of Bravo was on alert.

"Eric, what's this about?" Jason asked, recognising the head doctor besides his Commander and Blackburn's boss. Fear made his legs shake a little - what if the doc decided to fail Theresa on her psych-eval and she couldn't come back to Bravo?

"Sorry for the confusion, gentleman, but this meeting is only for Jason and Tessa." Eric gave them all a stern look when they wanted to object, and they all left with great reluctance. All of them grumbling - Sonny less quietly than the rest of the team - as they did so, Brock shooting her concerned looks even as Theresa assured him (and the rest of the team) that she'd tell them everything.

Much to Captain Anderson's chargin.

When they all left, Hayes and Kane turned to three expectantly.

"Am I not being cleared for active duty?" Theresa cut right to the chase when the silence stretched on.

"Doctor Drake wants to talk to you, Lieutenant Commander." Captain Anderson spoke up, straightening his back and looking at her sternly in an effort to intimidate the female Seal.

Theresa gave him a flat look, "She's not doing a whole lot of talking."

Realising that she had a point, the Captain gestured for the shrink to start talking.

Taking a deep breath, Doctor Drake stepped forward. "Lieutenant Commander Theresa Kane is harsh, aggresive, short tempered, lethal, anti-social, brutally honest, has a blatant disregard for any authority unless it is Jason Hayes or Eric Blackburn, she is uncaring about everyone outside her inner circle - but will still lay down her life for a stranger while extremely over-protective to the few she does care about."

Theresa tensed. Her body was tighter than a bow string as she sat, silently glowering darkly at the Doctor. Her fingers itched to reach for the knife that was usually clipped to her combat boots and throw it at her- Jason really did take every last one of her weapons. She wondered what would happen if she decked the doctor in the face. It's been a while since she's thrown a punch.

Her fingers clenched into fists so tightly that her knuckles became white with the force of it.

Watching her out of the corner of his eyes, Jason quickly intervened before Theresa could get up and launch herself at the shrink. "I'm sorry, excuse me, but what does this have to do with Tessa being cleared for active duty?"

"Normally, I would not clear someone with all of this emotional turmoil for active duty. However her loyalty to you, Chief Hayes, is something that can rise above all of those feelings and she would be able to over come all of them when it comes to saving him or her team."

Knowing that Theresa was uncomfortable with feelings and sometimes has difficulty understanding her emotions (very rarely these days, but it still happened), nevermind sharing and having them picked apart, Jason gave the woman a withering look that made her immediately advert her gaze.

"And this needed to be said in front everyone, cause why?" His voice was glacial.

At least she had the decency to look sheepish. "Because while her loyalty to you is unwavering and something I admire greatly, it is also a bad thing."

"Why?" Jason asked with a raised brow.

"Because should something one day happen to you, and you are not there to control her any longer, she will not only be lethal, but she will be dangerous. And for that reason, I would like her to begin regular therapy sessions to try and help her be less dependant on you." Tina said, looking at a spot on the wall in the back of the room.

"First of all, I don't control her and she's not dependant on me. She is a grown woman and makes her own decisions. Second of all, Tessa's already dangerous, cause hello, lethal and dangerous means the same thing. And third of all, there is no way she's doing therapy."

"That's not your decision to make, _Hayes_." Captain Anderson interupted snidely.

"He didn't say that because that's his decision on the matter - although I guess it isn't far from the truth either. He said it because he knew that would be my desicion." Theresa spoke up for the first time since the doctor started sprouting all this bullshit. Her voice was low, but clear and firm.

"I think it could benefit you as a person." Anderson felt the need to give his (unwanted) imput once more and the doctor nodded in agreement.

"I don't care what you think." Theresa snapped fiercely, ignoring the 'case in point' Doctor Drake muttered. She turned her gaze to Eric. "I do, however, care what you think. So, I want you to tell me, do you think this could benefit me? And please, answer me honestly. Not what you think I want to hear."

Eric looked taken aback, but still genuinely touched that she looked to him for advice. He cleared his throat. "No, I don't think you would."

Ignoring the looks of shock and fury on the doctor and Captain's faces, Theresa continued to study Blackburn's face for any signs of lying. "Why?"

"Because you wouldn't be able to open up. We've worked together for three years and I still don't even know how you met Jason, never mind how you or by who you were trained to fight and you trust me. At least, enough to listen to me when I tell you to back down. For therapy to work, trust needs to come from both sides and you will never trust someone if you feel forced to do so. I also happen to think you don't need therapy. You are good at your job and you have never let your feelings interfere with it."

"I trust you and I respect you, just as much as I do Jason." Was the first words out of Theresa's and it threw everyone in the room for a loop. Anderson and Drake watch in shock as Theresa looked at her Commander with a gentle and honest gaze. Then Anderson almost tripped in his haste to take a step back when the look vanished and hard eyes settled on his. "Now, unless there is anything else and I'm not being cleared for active duty, I think this meeting is over."

None of them said anyting, but she could have sworn that Eric was concealing a smile - if the proud look in his eyes was anything to go by. Taking the silence as permission to go, she and Jason pushed up from their chairs and walked to the door. Opening the door, Theresa honestly wasn't surprised to find the rest of her team outside. Either leaning against the wall - Ray and Trent - or sitting down on the ground - Brock, Sonny and Cerberus. Automatically a smile spread on her face as she looked at them.

"So, how'd it go?" Ray asked expectantly when neither of them said anything. Brock and Sonny got to their feet.

"I'm back." She grinned at them. Cheers erupted and Sonny picked her up and spinned her around, rejoicing with a loud, "Thank God."

"What happened in there?" Brock asked, concern etched onto his face. He stepped closer for a hug when Quinn set her down.

Theresa hugged her best friend back and when he let her go, she pulled a face as she thought back to what the shrink suggested. "They wanted me to take up regular therapy."

Four blank faces stared at her, clearly waiting for the punchline, until Trent asked, "You're kidding right?"

"Not even a little." Jason snorted, not looking even a little amused. He sobered up and looked at Theresa. "You okay, Tessa? Like, _really _okay?"

"Fine." Theresa nodded. Jason gave her a look of scrutiny, clearly searching to see if she was telling the truth. "I'm good, Jace, I promise."

Satisfied with what he found on her face, a slow smile spread on his face. "Then, I guess I can give you your weapons back, huh?"

"Uh, hell yes!" Theresa nodded vigourously and practically ran all the way to the equipment cages, an amused Jason following behind her after Bravo - who was now secure in the knowledge that Theresa would be back on the team and is okay - told their Chief that they would be heading to the cafeteria and wait there for the two remaining members.

"Whoo-hoo, come on, hand them over." Theresa looked positively gleeful as she made grabby hands at him in the equipment room.

Jason rolled his eyes at her, pulling open the door to his cage and walking inside. "How old are you?"

"I just turned five." She gave him a sweet smile, jumping in excitement. Jason picked up her wooden crate full of weapons and carried it over to her cage, setting it down with a exaggerated groan. Theresa pulled off the cover before sitting down flat on her ass and immediately went for her knives. "My babies, don't worry. Mama's got you." At this, Jason snorted again, watching as she twirled her knives with obvious content and happiness.

"Want to join the others in the cafeteria?" She asked as she stood up straight, clipping her favourite knife to the inside of her boot, leaving the rest of her weapons in the crate for now.

"Yeah." Jason called as he walked back to his cage and Theresa stared after him, taking note of his tensed shoulders and bowed head. This wasn't like the Master Chief. Something was bothering him. Theresa followed him to his cage, leaning in the 'doorway'.

She leaned against the metal, eyes watching him like a hawk. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Came his expected reply.

"Come on, Jace, how long have I known you?" Theresa said with a little laugh, a pointed look on her face.

"It's a woman." Jason announced softly, unable to look at Theresa as he did so. He busied himself with disassembling his rifle, to keep his hands busy.

The female Seal looked at him, brows pulled in confusion. "What's a woman?"

"The burner phone." Jason said, giving her a '_get with the program_' look. "I went to the address and I saw a woman coming out of the house."

Theresa formed a silent 'oh' with her mouth. "What's Alana say?"

"I haven't told her yet." He admitted, guilt flashing on his face.

"Okay," Theresa nodded and Jason felt relieved when she didn't give him a disapproving look. "-well have you talked to the woman?"

"I haven't decided if I'm going to." The Master Chief admitted.

"Well, whatever you decide to do, I'll back you up, you know that, right?" Theresa told him, giving him a reassuring and supportive smile.

"Yeah, I do." And it was only then that Jason realised those words was why he told her in the first place. To know that no matter what, right or wrong decision, he has someone that will take his side above all others and stand by him. "Thanks, Tessa."

"Anytime." She smiled.

Jason decided that while he was on the truth telling path, he might as well share everything else with her too. "And to make things worse, Mikey got in a fight."

Theresa's eyes widened, her mind flashing back to the conversation she had with him at the ice cream shop. Could it be that the dumbass kid mouthed off about Jason again? "No way."

"Yes way." He deadpanned. "You wanna know the rest kicker? The teacher thinks it's because Alana and I are seperated. Even asked if we're seeing other people."

Interested in that question herself, Theresa smirked. "Are you?"

"No." Jason asked, looking away from her.

"You're hiding something." Theresa stated matter-of-factly, crossing her arms over her chest, eyes studying the Master Chief intently. Then the slightest shade of pink tinted Jason's cheeks and everything fell into place for her. "Oh my God, you and Alana are sleeping together." The female Seal stated - no question about it - laughing heartily as she threw her head back.

"How on Earth could you have possibly guessed that?" Jason frowned heavily at her, clearly unnerved with her ability to make connections with minimal information.

"Cause I know you." She sing-songed with a smirk.

"Just don't tell the kids. I don't want to get their hopes up."

"I won't." Theresa swore earnestly. While she was hoped Jason and Alana could work things out and was happy that it seemed to be going in the right direction, she knows it's not her place to tell Mikey and Emma anything. Even if she is an honorary member of the Hayes family. "You wouldn't happen to know the kid's name that he got in a fight with?"

Jason shrugged, not really worried about it. He knew that Mikey wouldn't have fought with someone with out a good reason and he's not going to scold his child for it. "Dale or Damian. I don't know, something with a D."

"Darren?" Theresa asked with a raised eyebrow.

Recognition flashed in Jason's eyes and he nodded. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"When I took them out that Saturday, Mikey told me that a kid named Darren tried to take a swing at him. He didn't try to hit back at the time, but I told him to aim for the nose next time the kid comes looking for trouble." Theresa winced as she told him, her whole body tensing as she waited for his reaction. If Mikey was going to get into trouble for hitting a kid, she might as well own up to her part in it.

Jason closed his eyes, breathing in deeply and supressing a groan. He opened them, fixing her with a questioning look. Some of the tension in her shoulder disappeared. At least it wasn't angry. Theresa hated it when Jason was angry with her. "Tessa, why would you do that?"

"He called you a killer." Theresa admitted and Jason's head whipped to her so fast she feared he might get whiplash.

"Really?" Jason asked, clearly in disbelief over how mean a kid could be. Theresa nodded, eyes shifting around as Jason put his reassembled weapon back in it's case. "You know, suddenly, I'm very proud of him."

A breath of air left her lungs and all of the remaining tension drained out of her. Theresa gave him a brilliant smile before stepping out of his cage. "So, does that mean we're eating? Cause I'm really hungry."

"Yeah." Jason let out a light laugh, wiping his hands with a cloth to remove the gun oil. "Hey, did you hear Ash Spenser's in town for a book signing."

"Everyone's heard." Theresa snorted, shoving her hands in her pants pockets.

The duo walked to the cafeteria, easily spotting the remaining four members of their team. Ray and Trent sat next to each other on one side while Brock and Sonny sat together on the other.

"Please tell me that is for me? I'm practically starving." Theresa groaned, eyes zeroing in on the tray full of food that was next to Brock with laser focus.

"No, it's for the Invisible Man." Sonny groused good naturedly.

"He wants it, he can come and fight me for it." She said as she sat down and started shoving her face with food, temporarily ignoring the rest of her table. Jason sat down across from her and next to Ray.

Ray looked up from his tray, "Fifty bucks says, if the Invisible Man was real, Tessa would have kicked his ass."

"No way, she would never be able to catch him." Sonny denied, picking at his chicken. "Invisible, remember?" He deadpanned.

"I think she could, I mean, she always knows when someone is behind her." Brock reasoned.

"Yeah, if she can hand me my ass, then she can hand the Invisible Man his." Jason nodded in agreement, leaning over the table to bump his fists with Ray and Brock.

"Nah, I'm with Sonny on this one." Trent said, a light smile on his face.

"Wow, glad to hear about you confidence in my skills." Theresa drawled dryly, looking up from her tray and glancing around the cafeteria, unknowingly searching for something, but not knowing what. When her eyes locked on a familiar blonde, her eyes brightened and she realised he is what she was looking for. Or rather, who.

_Spenser. _

Taking a second glance at him, alarm bells went off in her head.

Shoulders slumped, eyes nailed to his tray of mostly uneated food, not participating in the conversation at the table and not looking alert or anything that could even remotely resemble a Navy Seal, like he was caught up in his thoughts. Something is wrong with him.

Worry and concern started to tug on her heart.

"Hey Tessa, you listening?" Jason asked, lightly kicking at her feet to grab her attention.

Her head snapped to him. She gave him an apologetic smile. "Uh, no. Sorry. Just a bit occupied."

"She's staring at her boyfriend." Brock said with a shit eating grin on his face. Theresa closed her eyes in dread for a few moments.

_Great_. _Just_ what she needs right now.

"What boyfriend?" Jason looked alarmed.

"What dumbass thinks he can date our little lady without asking first?" Sonny glowered, eyes dangerously scanning over the occupants of the cafeteria.

"Hey, why don't I know anything about this?"

"Oh, don't worry, Trent. Looks like Brock's the only one who does know." Ray gave her an accusing look.

"See what you did?" Theresa gave her best friend a killer glare, elbowing him so harshly that if it wasn't for all of his years of training, he would have fallen backwards and off his seat. She looked back at her brothers. "Guys, there is no boyfriend."

Ray eyed her suspiciously, "Then why would Brock say that? Save for Jason, he knows you better than anyone on this earth."

"He has this stupid idea in his head that I like Spenser." Theresa admitted with a roll of her eyes, cheeks heating up for some reason.

"_Clay_ _Spenser_?" Jason asked slowly, the look in his eyes deadly as he turned around to search for the blonde in question.

"Aw, hell no." Sonny shook his head vehemently.

"I think it could work." Trent said with a thoughtful look on his face. "You can tear apart that arrogant and cocky attitude of his and in turn, he can soften your rough edges a bit."

Theresa smacked her best friend upside the head, still glaring full out. "See what you did now?"

"All I did was answer a question." Brock defended with a cheery grin, looking way to pleased with himself.

"Could have worded it a little differently. Like, _geez_, I don't know, leave out the whole _boyfriend_ part." The female Seal scowled at him, slapping him on the bicep.

"Ow! That hurt." Brock frowned at her, rubbing at his upper arm.

"Cry me a river." She snapped before looking back at her brother's. "Guys. There's no boyfriend. First of all, Spenser's in Green and I'm training him. That would be inappropriate on so many levels. Second of all, it would take one hell of a man for me to call him boyfriend. And while we're on the topic, I mostly prefer the occasional one night. It's not something I do easily, my frustration levels has to be off the charts for me to go there. I mainly prefer to be alone and avoid all the drama that comes with a romantic relationship or having random sex." _That'll teach them not to pry_, Theresa thought to herself.

Satisfied with the uncomfortable looks on their faces as she so openly discussed her love and sex life - non exsistant as they may at the moment be - she moved on to her last topic.

"Third of all, if I was dating Spenser - _which I'm **not **_\- or any other guy for that matter, you guys would know and would have to approve of him first. While it is not necassary or technically any of your bussiness, I know it would make all of us sleep better if you guys approved of my boyfriend." Looking from one stunned face to another, Theresa smirked internally, "Happy now?"

Ray cleared his throat and, just like that, the conversation around the table started up again and the awkward air vanished, the discusion of Theresa's love and sex life was quickly forgotten and shoved far away. Not one of them would be opening that can of worms any time soon.

Well, not to her face, at least.

Theresa couldn't help but glance at Spenser every so often. Something about him seemed off. She didn't know what, only that there was something up with him. When she saw him get up and head out, she picked up her own tray. "Hey guys, I'm gonna go."

"But you're not even finished eating." Brock pointed out, not noticing how his best friend kept her eye on Clay.

"Not that hungry." She shrugged, knowing none of them would believe her because of how much she moaned that she was practically starving. Right now she didn't care. She'd answer them later. "Bye." She waved them goodbye and walked to set down her tray, before jogging to the door where Clay exited from.

"You guys don't think she's actually mad at us, right?" Brock asked as he stared after her retreating form, a bit worried that he might have pushed Theresa to far.

"Nah." Ray assured him.

"Did you guys notice that Spenser left here just before Tessa did?" Trent asked with a knowing glint in his eyes.

Jason groaned. "I'll kick his ass if he tries anything."

"She likes him." Brock said quietly, catching his entire team's attention but his eyes remained on Jason. "She really likes him and even though she hasn't realised it yet, I know she does. And when she eventually does realise it, she's gonna need your support more than anyone else's. Mine included."

Jason didn't like it. Not one bit. Clay Spenser - _Ash Spenser's **son**_ \- and his little girl? No. No way. Nope. Not happening. Not while he's breathing. Theresa might not see him as her father, but he will never seen her as anything less than his daughter. Since that first day he met her, looking all vulnerable and fragile, he wanted to protect her. Then he got in her space and she attacked. Violently and viciously. Jason would never admit it, but the only reason she didn't kick his ass back then, was because he was older and stronger than her.

Now, she was older and stronger and he couldn't kick her ass anymore.

But maybe Clay Spenser is exactly what she needs.

Either way, he couldn't stop her.

"Okay," Jason nodded, blowing out a breath. "I'll kick his ass if he hurts her." He compromised in a sulky grumble.

"We all will." Sonny drawled seriously, his comment coaxing murmurs of agreement from the team. A smirk spread on his lips, "That is, after Tessa's finish with him."

**SEAL TEAM**

Clay Spenser is one fast dude.

That was what Theresa came to realise as she walked out of the cafeteria and saw him rounding corner at the end of a hallway.

Good thing she was fast too.

The female Seal jogged after him and stopped when she saw him still walking in the hallway he turned into. She didn't want him to know that she was running after him. He was already cocky enough as it is.

"Hey Spenser, wait up!" She called after him, making sure to keep the look on her uninterested, shoving her hands into her khaki pants.

The blonde spun around, coming to a halt as he did so, surprise colouring his deep blue eyes. "Hey Four."

He gave her that boyish smile of his, though it was much less enthusiastic than it usually was when aimed at her. It worried her, but nevertheless that strange fluttery feeling erupted in her stomach again as she caught up to him.

"What's wrong with you?" Theresa cut to the case, ignoring all of the feelings he was stirring up in her. She was never one for bullshitting or beating around the bush.

"Nothing." Spenser answered quickly. A little to quickly for the woman's taste.

Her eyes narrowed at him, nodding condescendingly. "Is that why you look like someone killed your puppy?"

"I don't have a puppy." He retorted smartly, a hint of a smirk playing on the corners of his mouth.

Theresa glowered at him, but there was no heat behind it. "Not the point, blondie."

"What is the point?" Spenser asked innocently.

This time, there was a little bit of fire behind her glare before her face softened, but still remained stone like as she asked, "Why do you look so . . . depressing?"

"Why do you care?" He shot back and this made Theresa's perfected mask of indifference falter. Truthfully, she had no idea why she followed him out of the cafeteria or even why she saw talking to him right now. All she knew was that she saw him looking like he needed someone to be by his side and decided to be that someone. Theresa huffed to herself - and people say she can't be nice.

But she also couldn't tell him that. So she did the next best thing. She lied. "Because if you don't have your ducks in a row up there," She point to his head with her index finger. "Then you can't be on Tier One."

"My ducks are fine." Spenser honest to God glared at her for that comment. Clearly, he was offended by the notion of not being mentally fit to be on Tier One.

"I'll be the judge of that." She gave him a blank look, seeing his resolve crack under the pressure she applied. _Just one more shove._ "Come on, Spenser, spill the beans. Men loves to complain about their problems as much as woman." He sighed and Theresa knew he was going to talk. Now, it was just a matter of him pulling it together. Pushing her hands in her pants pockets, Theresa waited.

"My dad's in town for his book tour." He told her, bracing himself for her reaction while avoiding her gaze at the same time. He didn't want to see the anger or repulsion - reactions he usually got around base when his father was mentioned - in her eyes.

She frowned, not seeing the big deal. Does he hate his dad or something? "I know, everyone knows."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because the next second Spenser exploded, "See, and that's the problem. He knows I'm in Green right now and he knows that it's selections in a couple of weeks. But he couldn't just pass this time." By the time he finished his mini-rant, he looked relieved and blew out a breath of air.

Theresa opened her mouth to reply, but her phone buzzed in her leg pocket. She swore silently and took out her phone to read the text. Damn it. Bravo's being called in for a mission briefing. This is the one text she couldn't just ignore until later.

"Look, I have to go, but this conversation is not over, okay?" Theresa gave him a soft look and placed a hand on his shoulder. She squeezed it slightly before retracting her hand back to her side.

"Okay." He nodded jerkily, his heart racing from the small touch. "Kick some some ass."

"I always do." She smirked before turning to walk away.

Watching her walk away, Clay almost hit himself. She just touched his shoulder. That doesn't mean anything. Or does it? Does she like him? No, that can't be it. This is Theresa Kane, badass extraordinare. She wouldn't be interested in someone below her. But then, she did seemed to be concerned when she questioned him just now.

The blonde groaned. Why couldn't he just have fallen for a nice, normal girl?

**a/n: **most of this is original content - like, my own scenes - so this chapter took a long time to finish. but i enjoyed it. what do you guys think of it?


	13. A Delicate Approach

**Chapter Thirteen : A Delicate Approach**

"You're late." Eric frowned at Theresa when she entered the war room. Every other member of Bravo was already present and seated when she arrived.

"Sorry," She gave him an truely apologetic look. "I came as soon as I got the message."

The Commander's lips quirked up ever so slightly. "It's okay, just take a seat so we can begin."

Nodding, Theresa did just that and took a seat behind Trent and across from Brock. Eric took a seat infront of Lisa, leaving Mandy and an older man standing in front of Bravo team. The female CIA took a step forward before she addressed them. "Everyone, meet Oliver Carter. Carter is going to inform you about your target."

"Why do you need a team of Seal's to take one man out?" Ray questioned, looking between Mandy and Carter.

"Because we're not taking him out." Mandy informed them before gesturing for Oliver to take over.

"Luka Baljic, Serbian weapons broker." Carter said, eyes glancing at Bravo team. He paused on the brunette woman - who Mandy told him to avoid when possible and not anger when in a room together - and he didn't see what could possibly put that flash of fear in Ellis' eyes. She was small and looked delicate. "We have reason to believe he's the guy supplying the Taliban with the .50-cal armor-piercing sniper rifles they've been using against our APCs." Theresa frowned, wondering why something about that sounded familiar.

"Those are the weapons that killed the four marines a couple weeks ago in Kandahar?" Sonny asked - clearing Theresa's confusion in the process, the female Seal remembered being told about it by Eric - and Carter hummed in agreement.

"Is it wrong that I want one of those?" Theresa asked no one in particular, but everyone at the table shook their heads 'no'. Then a hopeful smile lit up her face as leaned over the table, turning her head to the left. "Hey, Lisa, think you can make it happen?"

"I can try." She promised with a smile as Bravo looked at their youngest with various expressions of amusement and smiles.

"Cool." Theresa grinned happily. The smile dropped from her face when she opened the manila folder on her desk. Bodies of fellow service men and civillians filled her vision as she paged photo after photo.

"Next shipment's a load of SA-7s." Carter said as Theresa slammed the folder shut, harsher than what was necessary. Doesn't matter that she's seen worse - there was only so much she could stomach in one day.

Other than the slammed folder, nothing gave Theresa's inner turmoil away. Not her face, not her eyes, not her body language. Unless, you knew what to look for. Jason and Brock did know what to look for - tensed shoulders, fisted hands, hard eyes, set jaw. Right now, she ticked all those boxes.

The two exchanged a glance, looked back at her and watched as she breathed in and out before relaxing, and nodded at each other. She is fine.

For now.

"Baljic's due in Estonia in 72 hours to oversee delivery of his next shipment to his runners, chiefly this man, Abukhan Kadyrov, Chechen national." Mandy went on, just as unaware of the silent conversation between Bravo One and Five and Theresa's anger as the rest of the room.

"Ex-Excuse me." Ray butted in, sounding incredulous. "These guys are shipping weapons to Afghanistan via Estonia?"

"They obviously don't know how to look at a map." Jason deadpanned, sighing quietly in relief when all the tension left Theresa.

"Maybe they thought we wouldn't figure it out that way." Theresa suggested with a shrug. "Kind of clever if you think about it. I mean, Estonia is as small as Syria and if the CIA didn't have snitches everywhere, they probably would have gotten away with it. Then again, kind of dumb when you think about the fact that they'd probably have to go around Africa to get there."

"We prefer informants." Mandy corrected.

Theresa shrugged with a roll of her eyes. "Same thing."

"We're confident in our intelligence and our analysis." Carter said and Theresa glowered at a spot on the table. Last time she heard those words coming from a 'friend' of Amanda, was before the shit show mission in Iran. Willing herself to ignore the distrust and lack of confidence in Mandy - because there was detailed information and thorough explaination offered - the female Seal listened as Carter was saying, "Where your expertise comes in is coming up with a way to snatch Baljic that does as little damage as possible to our diplomatic relations."

"Maybe I'm just a little bit behind here, because Estonia's still in the E.U. right? Why don't you just get the local authorities to pick him up and hand him over?" Jason asked.

Mandy hesitated, "There is some concern the Estonians might be reluctant to arrest him."

"They're in a delicate situation, diplomatically." Carter told them.

"And we're worried about offending someone's delicate sensibilities when trying to apprehend a weapons dealer, because?" Theresa inquired icily, looking up with a raised eyebrow.

"Sadly, some Serbian hard-liners still regard this guy as a hero." Oliver informed her, wondering why she was glaring and a little unnerved by her. She scoffed and he was grateful when she looked away in favour looking down at her laptop. He was starting to understand why Mandy warned him about her.

Ray asked, "So, what, he fought in Bosnia?"

"Commanded a Scorpion division." Carter answered and if she wasn't excellent at controling her facial expressions, her face would have fallen along with her stomach.

"Oh, that's not good." Jason commented.

"No." Carter agreed. "Baljic's personally responsible for the murders of over a thousand Bosnian Muslim civilians."

"What? So he's an arms dealer and a war criminal." Ray stated dryly.

"At least he's not lazy." Sonny noted.

"His mother must be so proud." Theresa grumbled snidely, pushing up from her chair to go to the small counter with coffee supplies and make some for herself. Snickers echoed in the war room from her comment.

"Must be, like, what, 20 years since we went after a war criminal?" The Texan asked.

"Baljic's weapons have killed dozens of American servicemen, which is why we now consider him an imminent threat.1994, Travnik. The massacre I told you about. Kandahar, two weeks ago. Take your pick." Carter said, showing the images that Bravo has in their folders on the monitor screens.

"I've seen worse." Theresa said, mostly just to break the tense silence in the room.

It worked as Bravo grouped around a map of Estonia. Jason, Ray and Lisa stood. Eric sat on the corner of the table - Sonny sitting on a chair next to him and Ray on the other side. Theresa finished making her coffee and sat infront of Brock on the other side of the table. Mandy and Carter stood near the monitors.

"What's the security like?" Ray asked, thinking about a game plan.

Carter took half a step forward and answered, "His protection detail's made up exclusively of guys who served under him."

"So they're war criminals, too." Ray nodded.

"Highly skilled war criminals." Theresa reminded him.

"He doesn't go anywhere without at least two or three of them." Carter informed them as Theresa wondered what fighting style they are trained in and what it would be like to go hand-to-hand with one of them. Being trained in eight different types of martial arts gave her a wide variety of moves and tricks to take down her opponents. If the person she was fighting knew the one martial art or it's moves that she used, she simply twitched to another to gain the upper hand in a fight. Still, it is possible for someone to kick her ass if they know even half of what she does. Especially people as highly trained as a member of the Scorpian devision.

"Look, anyone want to make a case for taking him at the hotel?" Jason asked, bringing Theresa out of her musings. Everyone stayed quiet. Although she had a tacial mind, she was nowhere near where Jason, Ray and Eric is. Shooting and fighting is more her department.

"It'd be a tough sell to Command, anyway." Eric consoled him. "State Department's real worried about the destruction of private property."

"Oh, it's good to know the priorities." Ray snarked.

"Hmm." Eric hummed his agreement.

"Okay, we know the priorities." Jason conceded. "Hotel's out. Too many variables, right?"

"Way to many." Theresa nodded, thinking about the possiblities. "The roof, the stairwells, front and back enterances, windows, the civillians that could get caught in the crossfire should a gun fight break out, possible hostage situation, causing a possible international incident."

"We could wait till he comes outside, nab him in the street." Sonny suggested.

"What if he doesn't leave, only orders room service?" Ray countered.

"Okay, look, anywhere else we're sure he's gonna be?" Jason asked, looking at the two CIA Agents.

"Only thing we know on his itinerary is the Kadyrov meet." Mandy answered him.

"A when and where would be helpful." Theresa noted, looking at the male spook inquisitively since he seemed to know the most about this guy.

"Where's the Port of Tallinn." Carter said, tapping on the paper map. "When's variable. It depends on when the shipment arrives."

"Should be in the next 72 hours." Mandy assured them.

"Can we hit him in the port?" Sonny questioned.

Theresa looked thoughtful, "We could stake out the hotel or the port. We know he's gonna move in and out of both those locations within the next three days."

"Military's got security at the port, right?" Jason asked Mandy, who hummed in agreement.

Sonny chuckled and Theresa snorted in amusement as he said, "Good one."

Jason rose his brows, "What?"

"I'm sorry, we're supposed to be afraid of the Estonian military?" Sonny question, exchanging a grin with Theresa.

"Their not very skilled, so not much to be afriad of." Theresa noted, throwing her head back and pulling her elastic band out of her hair, curls falling and framing her face as she lifted her head.

"It's not about being afraid, knuckleheads." Ray interjected. "It's about avoiding the possibility some unlucky Estonian MP sticks his nose in, gets himself smoked, poor son of a bitch ends up starting a war.

"I'm just saying, my money's on us." Sonny stated and Theresa grinned at him, nodding in agreement as she leaned over the table to hold her hand out for a fist bump that the Texan easily returned.

"Okay, keep in mind we're operating low-viz in a NATO country." Lisa reminded them. "That means no helos, all indig weapons."

"Great." Theresa groaned. "Also means Glocks and AKs and no rifles, right?" She scowled, looking at Lisa.

"Sounds about right." Davis nodded, arms crossed over her chest. _Well, at least I get to take my Glock and my knives, _Theresa consoled herself.

"Hit him in transit, vehicle to vehicle." Jason said and Theresa's scowl vanished as she visibly lit up with excitement.

"Seriously?" She bounced in her seat.

"Whoa." Sonny reeled back in surprise.

"Yeah?" Ray asked his boss.

"Kickin' it old school." Trent nodded with a grin.

Jason nodded back, "That's right."

"Oh, this is going to be so awesome." Theresa gushed with a beam on her face. "I've never done one before."

Lisa looked incredulous. "Seriously, when's the last time you ran a vehicle-based vehicle interdiction?"

"Ah, man, it's like riding a bike, Davis." Ray waved her off. Waved her off again when she gave Theresa a pointed look, "Tessa's a quick study."

"It's like riding bikes." Jason said as all of Bravo stood up and herded together to leave the room, following behind their Master Chief.

"I'm on point." Ray said as they walked.

"You're not on point." Jason denied as he reached the door and opened it. Theresa glanced at Carter again, something inside of her shifting uneasily. She doesn't trust him. She doesn't like him. And it wasn't about the mission, she was satisfied with the information given and had no problem with it. But the man himself? Something was off about him. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she'd be watching him like a hawk and so help him if he so much as sets a finger out of line, she'd knock his ass down.

"I'm on point!" Ray repeated as Theresa walked through the door and into the hallway, watched her brother's take their phones.

"No, you're not." Jason denied yet again as the female Seal pulled her phone out of the plastic container against the wall before shoving it in her leg pocket.

Theresa then slipped away from the team, needing to blow off some steam. She didn't know why Carter irked her so much. He just damned well did and it frustrated her to no end, making irrational anger and annoyance flare up in her chest and spread into mind. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists before shoving them into her pants pockets - she didn't want to lash out in her anger and accidentally hurt one of her team mates.

Jason, who was still arguing with Ray, stopped in the middle of his sentance when Trent exclaimed, "Hey where's Tessa?"

"Maybe she went to see Spenser." Brock suggested with a grin.

A thundercloud appeared above Jason's head. "I'll give her twenty minutes, then I'll go looking for her."

"Might not like what you find." Ray smirked at his best friend, all teasing. He knew as well as anyone on Bravo that Theresa wouldn't step over that boundry line - even told them in so many words she wouldn't. But it is hella fun to rile Jason up.

"I'm gonna kick his ass someday soon." The Master Chief grumbled, his team snickering at his expense.

**SEAL TEAM**

Half an hour later Jason found her in the gym, pounding furiously into a sand bag. A vacancy of two meters was all around her, people avoiding the area around her out of fear for begin hit in the crossfire of her assult on the sand bag. Every now and again someone eyed her warily and the Master Chief supressed a snort of amusement. Theresa had no idea how afraid some of the people on base are of her. It was a reputation well earned, considering how much crap she got in the begining for not only being a woman, but young as well.

Relief was evident on faces as they spotted Jason making his over to her - him being the only person that she listened to without question or objection was just as well known.

With laser focus she stepped back, jumped on the nearest bench before launching herself into the air, spinning around and landing a vicious kick to the sand bag. Repeating the action with her other leg before going back to hitting the bag with her fists, completely caught up in her workout.

Jason tried to sneak up on her to put her in a headlock. It didn't work as she caught his arm the moment it came into her line of vision before violently twisting it behind his back, her other arm going around his neck before she knocked his knees out from under him with her own.

Recognising him immediately when she glanced at his face, Theresa let go as if she'd been burned. "Shit, I didn't know it was you. Sorry."

"No worries." He gave her a reassuring smile as she went for her water bottle. "I see your senses are still as sharp as ever, even when you're focused."

"Thanks." She smiled as she worked on controling her panting breathing.

"So, wanna tell me what's eating at you or do you want me to call Brock?" Jason raised a brow at her as she squirted water into her mouth, looked away from him and swallowed. She looked back at him, offered him the bottle and when he shook his head 'no', she took another sip and chewed on the inside of her cheek.

Theresa swallowed her water, watched Jason as he waited for her answer before she sighed and admitted, "Carter."

"What about him?" The Master Chief frowned. As far as he knew, the seasoned CIA Agent hadn't done anything to piss Theresa off.

"He bothers me." She shrugged, drank some more water as she glanced around the gym. She scowled when she noticed all of the eyes on her and Jason. Nosey fuckers.

"Is it him that bothers you, or is it the fact that he is Mandy's friend that bothers you?" Jason challenged, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Theresa didn't answer him, just put down her bottle and walked back to the sand bag and started laying into it once more. Jason sighed lightly, "It's been thirteen months."

"Yeah, Jason, I know." She smiled fakely at him, not stopping her assult but thinking that she should. If she continued much longer, her hands would swell and shooting a gun would hurt like a bitch. "I can count days and months."

Jason stayed silent for a while. He walked forward and held the bag steady for her. "You gotta forgive her."

"Why?" Theresa spat angrily, the force of her punches almost causing the man to stumble.

"Because she didn't know the intel was bad." He said gently, knowing that a delicate approach was the only way to deal with an emotional Tessa or she would lash out the only way she knew how - with violence and anger.

"I told her the intel sounded dodgy." _Hit, hit, hit, hit._ "You told her something didn't feel right." _Hit, hit, hit, hit._ "Brock told her something was off." _Hit, hit, hit, hit. _"She didn't listen. You and I went into that building and low and behold, what did I find? A bomb made especially for us by the terrorist bomb maker we went looking for." **_Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit._** She looked back at him, eyes suspiciously glassy. "If I didn't tackle you out the window, we both would have been charcoal, Jason."

"I'm fine." Jason said, giving her a pointed look.

"You could have not been. We both could have not been." She retorted with a look of her own, momentarily stopping her punching. She blew out a deep breath, "It was just some miracle that the team was watching the perimeter instead of inside with us."

Jason's lips twitched at that, "You believe in miracles?"

"I did that day." She glared at him, resuming her attack on the bag.

"You want to sit this one out?" Jason asked, looking at her in contemplation.

"You think I'd sit out a mission when I think we're in danger? I might as well quit the Navy then." Theresa scoffed, giving him an offended look. "If you guys go down, I'm going down with you. There's no if, and or but about it."

"So, it's not about the mission, it's just about Carter?" Jason clarrified.

"Yeah." She nodded, stopping her punching for a final time.

Jason sighed and saw that nothing he said would make her change her mind about Ellis' friend. "I'll talk to Mandy, find out if there's anything to be concerned about."

"Geez, now why doesn't that make me feel better?" She snarked, giving him a glower.

"Do you trust me?" Jason countered seriously.

"Yes." There was no hesitation in her answer and it made Jason hide a satisfied grin. Being in the line of work that he is, the simple pleasures of life - waking up with his wife in his arms every morning, a hot shower or bath every night - was often something he had to pass on. So, he took it where he could get it - taking his kids to school when he was home, doing grocery shopping with his family, knowing he has Tessa's unconditional trust.

"Then trust me now." He said, looking into her eyes. It was silent between them for a long while before she finally answered him.

"Fine." Theresa grumbled as she walked to her water bottle and picked it up, but the smile tugging at the corners of her lips let Jason know that she wasn't that bothered anymore.

"Okay, now let's go. We gotta run through our plan."

**SEAL TEAM**

After running through the plan until they got it under twenty seconds, Theresa was sweat and smelly. She was pounding that sand bag earlier and now after practicing the snatch-and-grab plan for Baljic for two hours, she smelled worse than a dumpster. Stopping by her cage to let Jason know where she'd be if they needed her and grabbing her duffle that held a change of fresh clothes and her toiletries, Theresa made way to the communial showers.

Taking her time to wash away all of the dirt with her calming fragranced shower gel (which did absolutely nother for her anger) - instead of just hastily shampooing her hair and washing herself down with the excess foam and water from her hair like she does when on a limited time frame - washing her hair and conditioning it thoroughly.

When she stepped out of the blessedly hot shower, the strawberry scent of her shampoo and conditioner filled the woman's bathroom. Dressing quickly and taking a look at the time, Theresa wondered when they would let Bravo know about when they would depart.

It had to be soon, like, within the next two hours soon.

Stepping out of the bathroom, damp hair hanging loose, she sweeped the hallway out of habit. The left first, then the right and when she went to take a step to the left, she smacked face first into a muscular chest. Hands gripped her hips for balance as she fisted his shirt to do the same. Something inside of her - that had recently been awakend - wanted her to press even closer to the body not even three inches from her own.

Normally, being this close to someone, Theresa would feel uncomfortable and would take the option of falling on her ass rather than being touched by someone she didn't know. She hates people touching her and getting into her personal space - even Bravo and the Hayes' know they have to let her initiate contact or make sure that she can see touch coming.

There was only one person on this whole planet who she wanted to be closer to - something which still threw her world upside down, because all of these new feelings and urges that was coming to the surface is strong and powerful and unknown and more than a little terrifying and to top it all of, it made her struggle with her self control worse than normal - and that was a certain cocky blue-eyed; blonde haired idiot that made her stomach flutter and her heart race.

So, then it could only be Spenser she bumped into.

Theresa may be emotionally stunted, but never let it be said that she is stupid.

She looked up, breath catching as soft blue eyes locked onto hers.

"Hey you." The female Seal greeted. Realising the position they was standing in - practically embracing each other - she pulled away from him before taking two steps backwards, a deep blush staining her cheeks as she did so.

Spenser gave her a half smile as his blood rushed to his cheeks as well, her stomach fluttering at the sight of his upturned lips. It knocked her off a bit whenever it happened, but she was starting to assosciate that feeling with the blonde in front of it. No one else has ever made her feel this before.

"Your hair is wet." He noted, somewhat stupidly. Not for the first time, Clay wanted to hit himself. Why did he become a moron in her presence?

"Yeah, that tends to happen when you shower." Theresa snarked lightly, shrugging her duffled up higher on her shoulder as she gestured to the room she walked out of with her free hand.

Spenser wore on his bottom lip, inappropriate images flashing across his minds eye. Images involving the two of them in a shower with soapy, wet bodies and- the blonde shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He really didn't need her figuring out his real feelings for her. Luckily, this wasn't a problem as the female Seal started talking again.

"So, about what we talked about earlier, it's okay if you're angry at him. Just make sure that you aren't consumed by it."

They started walking, going nowhere in particular, just walking together. Silently enjoying the other's presence. Spenser contemplated her words for a few seconds, "Is it wrong that I don't want to go to his signing?"

"Nope, not at all. It's your choice and yours alone." Theresa assured him firmly.

He hesitated, "And if I want to see him? To confront him?"

"Then that's your choice too." Theresa shrugged easily.

"I don't know what to do." Spenser admitted with a sigh. "Part of me hates him for everything he's done. The other part just wants to go yell at him and ask him why."

"Then hate him and go yell at him and ask him why he did what he did. There is literally nothing stopping you." The female Seal said as if it was obvious and that simple.

"Like he'll answer me." Clay scoffed with a glower, fisting his hands in anger.

"Then at least you'll get to say you tried, which is more than he can say." Theresa said with a smile and Clay found himself relaxing, anger vanishing like mist in front of the sun. Her phone buzzed against her leg just as she shrugged. "Or don't go see him, if that's what you want. Just . . . whatever you do, make sure that it's for you." She pulled her phone out of her pocket as she spoke, read the text. _Wheels up in thirty._

"I have to go." Theresa gave him an apologetic look, not knowing why the hell she did it in the first place. She doesn't owe him anything. So, why did it feel so right to do it?

A slight frown pulled at his brows, "You know what I just realised?"

"What?"

"Most of our conversations always end with you having to go."

"Well, don't feel to bad, Spenser, cause this conversation is still not over."

"What more is there to say?"

"Plenty." She mock glared at him before breaking out into a reassuring smile.

Clay was still basking in that brilliant and beautiful smile of hers that never failed to make his pulse spike when she walked past him and broke out in a light jog, the smell of strawberries following her.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

this was a first for me. normally i don't put claresa scenes in the middle of the episode - just in the begining and the end, sometimes both - but it was needed.

thank you so much for the comments! they mean so much to me and makes me smile like a loon.

**_Sneak peak for the next chapter:_**

_"I think of you as Spenser. Cocky blonse with dead on accuracy and pretty blue eyes."_

_"You think my eyes are pretty?"_

_"Oh for fuck sakes." _


	14. Makes You Wonder

**Chapter Fourteen : Makes You Wonder**

A day later, Bravo was following Baljic around a market in Estonia. Everything was going relatively good and Theresa was actually enjoying this mission. There was sun, there was fresh air and she got to look at things in the market in the time the rest of her team had eyes on their target, adverting her eyes back to him when she was called. She was even in her civvies, instead of her khaki's. Not that she minds her uniform, but her worn in white sweater, black skinny jeans and purple sneakers was much more comfortable.

But, like everything else in life, this was not destined to go smoothly.

"All call, break." Jason ordered and Theresa tensed but immediately turned around and started walking to their rendezvous point where Ray and their driver was waiting. "Repeat, break contact."

"What's the word, big daddy?" Sonny asked the burning question.

"One of the bodyguards, we know each other." The Master Chief answered. Theresa supressed the urge to swear out loud. "We're burned."

Theresa was practically bursting with questions, but she knew better than to pounce on Jason with all of her questions. She could see from the look in his eyes that he was not even remotely happy with the newest development. Theresa wasn't any happier that their whole plan just went kaboom, so she kept quiet and let him have his silent fit.

Back at TOC – which was a really shitty and rundown warehouse – everyone was waiting to get their answers. Theresa was sitting at a table – her knives spread out in front of her as she sharpened them even more. At the table across from her, Trent was busy filling up AK clips with ammo. Finally, Ray turned around the laptop and started talking, "Jakub Kowal. Polish."

Jason explained further, "We operated with him in Afghanistan. 13 years. Polish Special Forces."

"He was with GROM?" Sonny questioned.

"Oh, yeah." Jason answered.

"Tough bastards." Sonny noted.

Mandy didn't look very pleased about all of this either, "Appears Baljic's decided to upgrade his security posture."

Jason went on, "Guy's the real deal."

"Damn shame he decided to work for an ethnic cleanser." Ray commented as Theresa picked up one of her knives and started spinning it on her index finger, careful not to kick one of them as she propped her feet up on the desk she sat at. She turned her gaze to Carter.

He was looking like a frustrated, caged animal. "All right, what does this do to the op?"

"Blows it back to the stone age." Theresa answered bluntly, just to see if Carter would give a reaction. He didn't disappoint. His eyes flashed to her, so panicked they were almost frantic.

"Anyone see a way that we don't abort?" Eric asked what everyone on Bravo was thinking. Dead silence was his only answer.

This made Carter even more panicked. "All right, look, y-you two are the ones he knows on sight, yeah?"

"Yeah, he knows me as well." Brock said. Theresa stopped spinning her knife, gaze turning to her best friend. That she didn't know. Okay, so, not only does this guy know the face of the man that practically raised her, but also the one of her best friend? Yeah, no way this mission was happening anymore. Eric has the right idea. Abort mission and go home.

Carter, however, still wasn't deterred. "All right, so we take the three of you off the snatch team."

Theresa gave him a dirty look, "Make that four. If Jason's not going, I'm not going."

"Doesn't leave much of a snatch team, does it?" Ray asked sarcastically, but Carter wasn't listening to him.

He was glaring at Theresa for her blatant refusal to do her job. Who does this woman think she is? "That's not you choice to make. This is your job."

Theresa raised a brow, starting to spin her knife on the tip of her index finger again as a somewhat smug smirk spread on her lips. "Are you going to come over here and make me do it?"

Carter took a step towards the table she was sitting at. His eyes then watched the knife spinning at the very tip of her index finger, looking like it was about to spin off her finger and fly through the air. The large array of knives on the table then caught his eyes. His mind cleared and he took a step back again, Mandy's words resounding in his head.

(_"There is a woman on Bravo, lt. Commander Theresa Kane. avoid her if you can, don't anger her if you can't." Mandy warned him._

_Cartee raised a sceptical brow, "Let me guess, Braco is overly protective of their girl?"_

_"Yes, they are. But that's not why."_

_Now he was slightly curious. "Why then?"_

_"Because if you anger her, she will punch you in the face, no questioms asked. I'm talking from personal experience here." Mandy rubbed her jaw in rememberance._

_"Suely such behaviour is not allowed by her Chief."_

_"Hayes has known her for a long time - since before she was a Seal. He lets her get away with a lot."_

_"What about others? There must be someone that can keep her in line."_

_"Hayes can, he's the only one she listens to. and also her Commander." Mandy told him. "From what I've heard, the highest ranking officer she's ever punched was an Admiral in her first year." _

_"I find it hard to believe that nothing happened to her after that."_

_"She was grounded feom active duty for a month."_

_He almost gaped in shock and surprise. "That's no punishment. Assulting someone, especially someone witj higher rank than you, is grounds for a Dishonorable Discharge or at the very least, an extended suspension." _

_"Yeah, well, according to the higher ups at CENTCOM and the Pentagon, one Lt. Commander Theresa Kane is more valuable than the occasional punch she throws."_

_"And I'm guessing she knows that." It was a statement, not a question._

_Mandy answered anyways. "Oh, she certainly does."_)

"There's not gonna be a snatch team." Jason interjected quickly. Just now Theresa's knife 'slips' from her finger and into Carter's body. "There's no way Baljic does the meet now. All right? Kowal is just gonna keep him in that hotel till he takes him to the airport."

"So we hit 'em on the way to the airport." Carter said as if it was that easy. Theresa resisted the urge to slap her palm against her forehead.

"When?" Jason asked.

Carter didn't understand what he was being asked, "What do you mean?"

Theresa might not have the best tactical mind among them, but even she knew what Jason was asking. She scoffed to herself. This is why CIA analysts don't plan operations. They collect intel, make sure said intel isn't bullshit and then pass it on to them.

"When?" Jason repeated, rising from his chair.

"When? He means, when are they going to the airport?" Ray translated for Carter, because based on the look on Carter's face, the man wasn't going to get it anytime soon. He and Jason got in the CIA Agent's face, making Theresa grin widely. For once, it wasn't her all up in someone's face. "Or do you know something we don't know?"

Jason, "Yeah."

"All right, all right." Carter scrambled for another idea as Brock walked over to his best friend. "So, we watch the hotel."

"How long?" Jason questioned. "You keep him in there all week."

Brock crouched down next to her, keeping his voice low and his attention on the three men as they spoke, "Don't you think you're enjoying this a bit too much?"

Theresa replaced her smile with an innocent look, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't." Brock snorted, pointing to a Butterfly Knife on Theresa's table. When she nodded, he picked it up and started flipping it open and shut.

While they were talking, Ray went on with destroying yet another one of Carter's ideas. "Yeah, during which time, he'll have those vehicles make fake airport runs, keep us constantly guessing whether Baljic's in one of the vehicles."

"All right, so we go into the hotel!" Carter exploded, but still somehow managing to look deadly serious.

Silence fell over the room, both Theresa and Brock even momentarily stopping where they were each playing with one of Theresa's knives. Theresa recovered first, tilting her head at him. "Are you senile or just insane?"

"Mossad did it a few years ago in Dubai." He pointed out defensively.

"Mossad." Ray huffed in disbelief.

"It was an assassination, with months to plan." Mandy pointed out, completely on Bravo's side. "And they still ended up getting their pictures taken."

"Either way, the target that they hit, they didn't know they were coming. Kowal and his guys are inside that hotel room right now, waiting on us, reinforcing the doors, packing out the windows." Ray explained to him.

Theresa nodded, "It would be one huge clusterfuck."

Carter wasn't convinced, still more than a little desperate. "How do you know that?"

Ray gave him a look, "Because we know him. We trained with him, we worked with him, we fought alongside him."

"That's exactly what we would do." Something clicked in Jason's mind. "Davis, get me, uh, Baljic's hotel number, can you?"

**SEAL TEAM**

So, apparently Jason's great big plan is to try and bribe Kowal into giving Baljic to them. He has been sulking ever since Theresa laughed in his face when he told them his plan. Well, plan number one anyways. He had a back-up plan, or so he assured Theresa after she stopped snickering in his direction. While Jason was executing his first plan, the rest of Bravo – save for Trent – stayed put at the warehouse.

Ray had objected, Theresa threw a fit – both said that the meet could be a trap. That if he went in without back-up he may not come back. Finally, Blackburn agreed with them and told Trent to shadow him from a safe distance and to provide help if needed but to otherwise stay out of Kowal's sight.

With all of the free time, Theresa's mind wondered back to her last two conversation's with Spenser. They were both about his dad. She wondered what the blonde would do, mentally counting the time it would take them to get back to the States. By then, Ash Spenser's book reading should be done. Theresa didn't understand why she was so curious about what he would do.

Eventually, Theresa's mind ventured to her own parents. The dad she barely knew and the mom who abandoned her.

"Hey, you with us?" Brock asked, coming to stand next to his best friend where she stood in front one of the large windows, her back to the room, arms crossed over her chest.

Theresa hummed in agreement, "Just thinking."

"About?" The canine handler prodded softly and gently, knowing that if he pushed too hard at her softened walls, she would reinforce it with steel and concrete.

A deep sigh left Theresa. "My parents."

"Oh." Brock didn't know what else to say. This is a very touchy subject for her and the last time he openly asked her about it, she told him to fuck off. That was two, almost three, years ago - way before they were as close as they are now.

Heaving another heavy sigh, Theresa's shoulders slumped and she looked at her best friend. Caught off guard by the complete and utter look of vulnerability in her eyes, Brock didn't know how to speak for a few seconds. She has always been more open with him than with anyone else, but never has she let down all of her walls in front of him.

Theresa looked at her best friend, the one person in her life that's always been on her side, save for Jason. The person who watches her back, that has a bedroom in his house for her despite the fact that she has an apartment of her own, who has been patiently waiting for her to open up. A faint smile curled on the corners of her lips.

It's time, Theresa realised.

Opening her mouth, Theresa started to tell her best friend everything. Her whole story – about her mother, about her father, about her training before the Navy, about meeting Jason and how he took her into his family without hesitating. When she was done, Brock immediately wrapped her up in a tight hug.

Across the room, Ray frowned at them. "What's up with them?"

Sonny shrugged, "Who knows with those two? Could be something, could be nothing."

"Tessa's not the touchy-feely type." Ray reminded him.

"'Is different with Brock. They watch each other's back like no one else."

"Sometimes I'm jealous of that. That she took to Brock so fast, so easy but we had to work for her trust and friendship." Ray admitted.

"Tessa's a hard person to get to know," Sonny acknowledged. "But she was worth it."

"She still is." Ray agreed. Suddenly, he remembered something and wondered. "Hey, you think that what Brock said is right? About her liking Spenser?"

"I do." Sonny nodded. Not that he'd ever admit it, but he's given that topic more thought that he ever thought he would. "But I don't think she'll realise, or allow herself to realise anything, until Green is over and she is no longer his superior."

"Even if he joins Bravo, she'll still be his superior." Ray pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's a lot of grey area in that. Right now? She's his direct superior."

The two men sighed silently, wishing and hoping to the moon and back that things will get easier once Spenser is done with Green training and drafted (hopefully) onto Bravo.

**SEAL TEAM**

After misleading Baljic into thinking that they left the country – which Theresa thought was much smarter than his first plan, and she made sure to tell him that – Bravo went back to their original plan of grabbing him on the street, en route to the meet. Currently, she, Jason, Ray and Brock were in the back of the truck Sonny was driving. Trent was ahead of them, cutting Baljic and Kowal off.

"Stop thinking about everything that can go wrong." Jason scolded from next to her.

"I'm not." Theresa said. Brock snorted from her other side and Ray raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Five blocks out." Sonny hollered from the front, hitting on the side of the truck to get their attention. "It's go time." Theresa gripped her AK tighter, checking the ammo clip one last time out of habit.

"Show time." The four members of Bravo braced themselves for the impact. "Three two, one!" She heard more than felt the crash, before getting up along with the others and making her way to the pull up door. The four of them made quick work of pulling it up and jumped out, guns aimed and ready to fire.

Bullets was flying all around them, but by the time they got to Baljic's SUV, he and Kowal was both gone.

"TOC, this is Bravo 1. Negative visual on the target. He is not in the vehicle." Jason reported.

"He's in the alley." Sonny informed them.

Jason, Theresa, Sonny and Ray vaulted over the cars and gave chase after the two. Brock and Trent knew they needed to take the vehicles Bravo came with and meet the rest of the team wherever they would end up.

"TOC, target heading north." Jason stated as they ran down the alley, in the direction where they saw him. "In pursuit."

They ran up the stairs and the four split up into two teams of two at the top of the stairs where the hallway split – Jason and Sonny going right, while Ray and Theresa went left. Theresa almost rolled her eyes when she saw the inside of the building Baljic and Kowal went in. A hotel. They would have a diplomatic disaster on their hands if this went really wrong. But at least now they weren't on the street anymore and Brock and Trent wouldn't have to driver further than down the alley.

Ray and Theresa cleared their half of the first floor and made their way to the next floor. Coming out of the stairwell, they ran right into Baljic and Kowal – their guns drawn and pointed at him, just like his was pointed at them. Or rather, his gun was pointed at Ray, eyes flashing between Ray and Theresa.

Kowal was panting and smiling somewhat as he looked at the 2IC of Bravo, while Theresa was subtly trying to step closer to Ray, wanting to manoeuvre herself in between Ray and Kowal's gun. She didn't look forward to getting shot again, she really didn't – it sucked and it was restricting and she wasn't even going to start on the boredom. The point being, if the bullet she steps in front of is for one of her brother's – then no matter how annoying recovery time may be – Theresa would do it without hesitation.

"Good to see you again, Raymond." Kowal greeted, accent thick.

Ray slowly moved forward, Theresa's whole plan going to shit. Oh well, she'd just shoot him before he could shoot any of them. Her eyes went to his trigger finger – if it so much as twitches, she'd shoot him right between the eyes. Or maybe in the family jewels, if she was feeling particularly vindictive. "Of all the gin joints in all the world, huh, Jakub?"

"Who's the pretty lady?" Kowal gave a leering smile her way, trying to buy some time. For what, exactly, he didn't know.

"Someone who's definitely not a lady and wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in your brain." Theresa snapped at him, her tone icy. She wanted to take the shot, had one even, but she knew Jason would be coming around the corner any second. She waited, knowing he would give them silent orders when he arrived.

Not even a second later did Sonny and Jason round the corner.

"You don't want to do this. Not for him." Jason told him. Kowal looked visibly conflicted. But, his odds didn't look to great. Four against one. "Lifeboat time." The Master Chief said, Theresa not being exactly sure what all of that was about but it seemed to work.

Finally, deciding that this won't end good for him, Kowal lowered his gun, much to Baljic's consternation and Theresa's relief. Baljic went off on the man in Serbian, only to get silenced when Kowal head-butted him. When he stepped away from the war criminal, Theresa and Ray made their way to him. Ray body searched Baljic for any weapons while Kowal left through the nearest door.

Theresa frowned at little at the door Kowal just left through, "We're letting him go? Just like that?"

"For now." Jason nodded, not looking worried at all and Theresa let it go.

**SEAL TEAM**

"Hey." Theresa grinned at Jason, looking at the beer in his hands as he came up to her on the C-17. Baljic was in custody, Bravo was all in one piece, Mandy and her CIA friend was happy and they were heading home. "Can I have one?"

"Not for another two weeks, no." He looked away to smug at the denial.

Theresa scowled at him, "I'm only supposed to take the pain meds if I still have pain. Which I don't." Jason opened his mouth, but Theresa needed to say something, before she could talk herself out of it. "So, apart from being a little crazy, Carter was in the clear. Looks like I was wrong."

Jason shook his head, "No, you were right. There is something off about him, I just don't know what."

Theresa shrugged, "Well, the mission is over and we're all in one piece, so I really couldn't care less."

Jason nodded, eyeing her sideways as she sat down on a weapon filled crate. "You okay?"

Theresa's gaze snapped back to him. "Fine."

"That why you've been holding your side since we got on the plane?" Jason raised a brow, giving the hand at her right hip one very pointed look.

Her hand disappeared from her hip and she gave him a smile, "I'm fine, Jason."

"You were shot two weeks ago, Theresa." The Master Chief's voice to a hard edge, stance unyielding.

"Okay, okay, fine. Christ. Just don't have a coronary. It pulls a little. There. Happy now?" Theresa admitted a little more snappy than what was necessary, hand going back to her hip. She gently rubbed over the healed but still pink skin. "I'm thinking it's from the stairs at the hotel."

A deep frown settled between his brows, "Didn't you do your PT?"

"I did." Theresa assured him quickly, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "But I haven't run once since I got shot. I should have ran some hills before the mission."

"Do you want to get checked out?" Theresa gave him a look. "Right, stupid question. Never mind."

"Yeah, but Trent said that even though I'm cleared for active duty, I shouldn't pick up heavy things for the next month because the skin at the area I was shot at, is very sensitive." Theresa informed him.

"You need some more time off?"

"No, I'm fine. It's nothing a few of those fancy pain pills I was prescribed and some sleep can't help." Theresa promised, leaving out the part that she has yet to pick up even one of her pain prescriptions. She didn't need them. But her side was really hurting – not enough for her to be physically or mentally affected or for it even to be called pain, but enough to bother her – so maybe she'd go and pick up some. If for nothing else then for a comfortable sleep.

"I told Brock about my past." She blurted when the silence between them stretched on.

Jason raised an expectant eyebrow, "And?"

"He took it surprising well."

"Just like I told you he would." Jason was looking smug again.

"Yeah, yeah, you are wise, all knowing and everyone should stop thinking for themselves and do as you say." Theresa teased but the normal mirth wasn't in it.

"You should." He nodded, expecting a laugh from Theresa. When only a small smile tugged at her lips before falling down, he eyed her with concern. "You okay?"

"Just wondering."

"About?"

"Just, with all of this talk about the Spenser's, I've been wondering, what would I have turned out like if you didn't take me in that day? Would I have let down everyone I care about? Would I have been a killer or assassin if left to my own devices? I certainly have the skills." Theresa's voice was a soft and fragile thing.

Jason set down his beer and joined her on the crate, "No, you wouldn't."

"How can you be so sure?" She asked, genuinely curious about the answer.

"Because, Theresa Kane, you have a heart made of gold. I know you like to pretend it doesn't exist to begin with, but I know it does. I saw it when you sat down with Mikey to build blocks on my living room floor, I see it when you and Brock pull pranks on Sonny that you swear up and down you didn't have anything to do with and I saw it in way you threw yourself over me to protect me when that bomb went off in Iran." He gave her a gentle smile. "So, maybe you would have wandered of your path a little if we hadn't met, but you would have found your back to it eventually. You know why? Cause when push comes to shove, you shove harder than anyone in this world to do the right thing. Cause you are a good person and absolutely nothing like your mother."

Well, Theresa definitely didn't expect that. She ducked her head bashfully and mumbled a shy, "Thanks, Jace."

"Always, Kiddo." He grinned.

She pulled a face, looking back at him. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"You're always gonna be my kiddo, Tessa, no matter what age you are." Jason told her matter-of-factly.

Theresa smiled warmly. A comfortable silence fell on them for a long while before she looked at him, "I know I don't say it every day, but I love you, Jason."

Swallowing past the rocks in his throat and basking in the warm feeling in chest that came from hearing those words out loud, his voice came out soft when he said, "Love you back."

**SEAL TEAM**

Hours later, Theresa and the rest of Bravo was back home.

They had just stepped of the plane when a stuttering guy entered Bravo's Equipment Cages and told her that Chief Siever wanted to talk to her, all the while giving wide eyed glances to the rest of the team. When she lifted her head from the table in the middle of the room where she was lying horizontally, and nodded in acknowledgement, the guy hightailed out of there.

"How much you wanna bet he's in the Navy cause of his family?" Sonny asked, looking at the door.

Brock snorted, "I'd bet my last dollar on it."

"Yeah, poor kid looked like we were going to eat him alive." Ray commented from his cage.

"Makes you wonder about the stories that goes around about us on base." Theresa noted, sitting up on the table and sliding of it in a roll. The pull of her wound was much better and the female debating over whether or not to make the trip to the drug store for her pain meds. Then she remembered the uncomfortable pull on her side, the way her insides felt like it was twisting and silently promised herself to make the trip before heading home.

Which is what she is planning to do – just as soon as she sees Siever.

Theresa left Bravo and made her way to Siever's office as quickly as possible. She hasn't slept in over 40 hours – she tried on the plane ride home, but her side kept bothering her – and she felt a little bit like a zombie. Eh. She's gone without sleep for longer.

"What's up, buttercup?" Theresa asked with a cheery grin as she entered his office.

He snorted at the sight of her, "Hello to you too. Good mission?"

"Oh, yeah." Tired or no, a good operation – even with the few snags it hit – was always enough to put her in good spirits. "HVT is alive and captured, being sent God only knows which CIA blacksite."

"Glad to hear that." Siever grinned at her.

"So, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah," He nodded, back turning a little more serious. "The next part of Green training is HALO-jumps."

Theresa grinned, "Oooh, I love jumping out of a plane. What's the starting point?"

"14000 ft."

"Nice."

"Does that mean you're helping?" Adam raised a brow, knowing that he only asked Eric to ask Theresa for help in the hand-to-hand combat classes. And although she also helped him with the obstacle courses, she didn't have to help any further.

"Well, I've already helped you this far, might as well take it the rest of the way, huh? If Bravo's not called in, then sure, I'll help." Theresa grinned, satisfied with the shock and surprise on Adam's face. She was only doing this for the future of the Seal's in training. Not because she wanted to see a certain blonde a little more. Not at all. Speaking of Spenser, they had a paused conversation. "Quick question: does the Greenies have any more training for today or are they done?"

Adam gave her a strange look, "They didn't have any training today."

Theresa frowned, "I thought that was Thursday."

"It is Thursday."

"Huh." Theresa flicked her tongue over her teeth. "We were gone longer than I thought then."

Concerned eyes watched her carefully, "You good, Four?"

"Somewhat sleep deprived but, yeah. All good." With one last smile, Theresa was out of his office. As she walked, her thoughts travelled back to Spenser. Was he still on base? Did he go see his dad? If he did, what did they talk about? Was it awful? Was it nice? Is Spenser angry? Did his dad upset him? Did they make up?

When she shook herself out of her thoughts – she was really spending too much time thinking about the cocky blonde these days, but for the life of her couldn't figure out why – and looked up, she noticed that she was in the cage are for the whole of Green team.

Her eyes flashed all around the room, and she had to bite down on the insides of her cheeks when she spotted Spenser because a wide smile wanted to spread on her lips. He was sitting with his back to her, but she knew it was him. The broad shoulders and the mop of curly blonde hair easily gave him away. Then she smirked internally as she got an idea and walked up to them with a killer glare on her face. (This would give her the perfect cover to talk to him. No one would question it.)

The three guys sitting around him nearly fell of their benches when they noticed her approaching. They scattered just as she stopped behind Spenser, but before the blonde could turn to see what spooked them away, she pulled him up by the back of his collar.

"What the hell?" Spenser muttered, only to brighten up when he looked behind him and saw Theresa.

She tugged on his collar, making sure to get the message of 'follow me' across before letting him go and striding away. He caught up to her quickly, confusion written all over his face. Theresa was tempted to hit him. "You and I have a conversation to finish."

"I didn't think you we serious about that." He admitted.

"Oh, I was dead serious. Now, come on, before I drag you by your ear."

"Careful," He started, giving her a cheeky smile. "Just now I start to think that you like me." He wishes that she did, but she didn't know that.

She rolled her eyes, "Spenser, stop talking nonsense and come on already. I've had long day, and while I can stay awake for days without sleep, I prefer not to do so if I don't have to."

Seeing that this was her roundabout way of telling him that she's tired, Spenser sobered up. "Okay."

"Do you know that Sam's Diner three blocks from here?" Theresa asked him without thinking it through. "I need food."

In hindsight, it was a bad idea to make the offer. She should have just taken him to one of the many, many benches around the base and finished their talk there. Why she did what she did, she will never know. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation, or maybe, just maybe, Theresa was doing something she wants for herself, for once in her life.

"I do." He nodded, this time catching the hint. "Why so far though? Scared someone might see us?"

She gave him a flat look, "No, dumbass, they make the best waffles in Atlanta."

"Oh." Spenser felt more than a little silly.

Twenty minutes later, they were both seated in Sam's Diner. Five waffles for her and a farmhouse breakfast for Spenser was being made and while Theresa has always appreciated the good service here, she most certainly does not appreciate the way the waitress keeps gawking at Clay. Something dark and bitter twisted her stomach into knots as an angry fire burned in her chest.

The confusion most certainly didn't help her haywire feelings and she clenched her fists, looking down at the wooden table. Spenser called her, and when she looked up at him, there was worry in his deep blue gaze. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." She nodded. The knots in her stomach untangled and when Spenser smiled at her answer, the angry flames in her chest was doused. "So, what did you do about your dad?"

"I talked to him."

"How'd it go?"

"Good. Well, for me anyways."

"Good for you." Theresa gave him a small smile as the waitress came with their food. The female Seal eyed the waffles hungrily. She picked up her fork and shoved a healthy bit into her mouth, almost groaned in happiness.

Spenser, who was focused on his own food, went on with his ranting against his father since Theresa didn't seem to mind it at all. "I mean, I'm still angry, because everyone is still going to look at me like the son of the man who wrote a book about his time as a Seal."

That made her pause, forkful of waffle halfway to her mouth. She set her utensil down and look at Spenser silently, waiting for him to catch on and look up at her. When he did, she gave him a fierce look, "It might not mean much to you, but I think of you as Spenser. Cocky blonde with dead on accuracy and pretty blue eyes."

"You think my eyes are pretty?" Spenser smirked, heart soaring in his chest from her words. They meant more to him than she will ever know.

"Oh for fuck sakes." Theresa rolled her eyes and decided to not acknowledge his comment any further and to get back to their topic of conversation. "Our parents' sins doesn't define us, Spenser."

"How would you know? I mean, no offense, but it's not like everyone is judging you because of who your parents are." He retorted pointedly.

Theresa shrugged, digging back into her food. "Probably because I don't have parents."

"I, uh. Shit." He muttered to himself, looking away from the Seal. He wondered if he was about to get a fist to the face. The resounding crack of the nose she broke the second time he saw her, echoed in his ears. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"No one does. Well, Jason and Brock knows, but they don't really count cause they know everything."

Clay hesitated, wondering if he should prod further or if he should just took what she shared and let him go. Curiosity - and something inside of him that yelled to push just a little bit harder - finally won him over. "Can I ask what happened?"

This made Theresa pause. Two people in this whole world knew her story - the whole story, not bits and pieces - and one of them found out a day ago. She's known the blonde for a few months, she couldn't possibly trust him with all of that.

And yet, she did trust him. She has since he laid with her on a roof in Liberia and helped her watch for trouble. What was even worse was that she wanted to answer his question.

Theresa shrugged, "Barely knew my dad, he left when I was four. Mom left when I was fourteen."

"Don't you wonder where she is?"

"I used to. Not anymore."

"What made you stop?"

"I realised that I couldn't change anything about my situation at the time and later, when I joined the Navy and had the clearance to look for her, I realised that I didn't want to because I have a family. She'll always be my mother, but she's not my family and I'd never be able to trust her again. Besides, I'm so angry at her, I'm afraid I might actually explode if I ever see her again."

"That's, uh-" Spenser looked like he was lost and Theresa took pity on him by cutting him off.

"Yeah, I know. I look perfect, but in reality I'm all screwed up." She gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"I don't think you're screwed up." Clay said immediately, serious blue eyes capturing hers. "Just human." He place a hand on her forearm. Safety blanketed Theresa's mind, warmth spread in her chest and comfort washed over her soul. All from his touch. It startled Theresa so much that she wanted to pull away because she had never , but he just gripped her arm a little tighter, eyes pleading with her not to pull away or run.

Theresa swallowed thickly and looked away from him, but allowed his hand on her arm to stay as she focused on getting her heart rate down. Something inside of her was at peace and completely content with the skin to skin contact between her and Clay. When her heart was beating at its normal pace again and she could look at Clay again, she steadfastly ignored the comforting weight on her arm as she said, "You're gonna make it."

"What?" Clay asked, utterly confused at the statement that came out of nowhere. He didn't know what topic she was talking about now, but he did know that she was changing the subject from their previous one. Honestly? That was fine with the blonde because another topic meant her still being here and not running for the hills or punching him in the face.

The second option seemed like the most probable. Theresa Kane is not someone that runs away.

"Making it to Bravo." She said, her voice a 'duh' tone. "It'll be hard. In fact, it's supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it." She looked at him and gave him a confident smile, gently pulling her arm away from his hand even if every fibre of her being, every molecule in her body, was screaming at her not too. "But you're going to make it."

"Thanks, Four."

"You're welcome, Spenser." She ate another bite of food. "Oh, and by the way, you're not completely awful company."

"Are you telling me you like me?" Spenser couldn't help but tease her.

"No." Theresa huffed, ignoring the way her cheeks heated up. What's with him and that stupid question anyways? "See, this is what happens when I try to be nice. People get cocky around me."

"I'm always cocky." Clay admitted easily and Theresa snorted in amusement, even if her mind was on a question that was bugging her terribly.

It took her three years to tell Brock - who has more than earned the right to know what happened in her past. So why did she feel like not only answering all of his questions, but opening up and telling Spenser everything right here in this diner?

**an:** phew! this was kind of hard to write. just for the record, no matter how long i may take to update, i won't ever abandon this story. theresa is too close to my heart.


	15. Pure Friendship

**Chapter Fifteen ****Pure Friendship**

Theresa's music was blasting in her ears through her wireless earphones as she ran an obstacle course by herself. She promised herself that she would run hills to help her body. She just wasn't in the mood to be accompanied by anyone or to talk to anyone, hence the earphones.

The course started with a mile run and then shooting down pop up targets.

Theresa was flipping the bulldozer-sized tyre and almost made a face at the 30ft belly crawl she'd have to do next. Ugh. She hates that one. Oh well, its part of the course. She went down flat, ducked beneath the net and started crawling through the burning hot sand.

When she got to the other side, there was sand everywhere and sweat made her body sticky and the sand clung to her. Oh, man. She was so taking a shower after this. Next was the roped wall she had to climb. Theresa grinned. Easy as eating pie. She was up the wall in seconds, pulling herself up by her hands before lifting herself upwards and doing a hand stand on the ledge.

Theresa almost lost her balance and fell over when she saw a group of Greenies watching her - among them was a blue-eyed blonde that was watching her with a smirk on his face.

Luckily, her shirt was tucked into her khaki's and held inside her pants by her belt. Sure, she had on a sport bra underneath - which would sometimes be the only thing she trains in when in the base gym - but something about Spenser seeing her half naked, made her heart beat faster than it already was and her skin feel impossibly hot.

Theresa decided to get off the wall before she could really fall off and make a fool of herself. After vaulting herself off the wall and landing on her feet gracefully, it was Theresa's turn to smirk at the awestruck look on Spenser's face.

At least Theresa had the dignity to hide her smirk as she jogged to the starting point of the obstacle course and began again.

She was on her fifth run; hot, sweaty and full of sand when she spotted Jason waiting for her on the other side of the rope wall. The Greenies was nowhere in sight this time. Theresa hide a chuckle as she flipped herself off the wall and landed on the other side in a crouch.

As afraid as the Greenies are of her, they are even more terrified of Jason. She honestly didn't get why. Sure he was lethal and efficient when it came to his job, but outside of that he is a big goof ball with a gigantic heart.

Then again, Jason might say the same about her but no one would believe him, so part of her understood.

Theresa walked over to him, knowing that if he came all this way to see her, then he wanted to talk. She pulled out her wireless earphones and beamed at Jason when he held out a liter bottle of what looked like ice cold water.

"Bless you." Theresa took the bottle from him with greedy hands. Jason watched with vague amusement as she downed the whole bottle in under thirty seconds. "Sometimes, I swear you're my guardian angel."

"Well, today this guardian angel came to visit you for a completely selfish reason." Jason told her, taking back the empty plastic bottle. "So, if now's not a good time, feel free to chase me away."

Theresa gave him a look that came close to disapproval. "Come on, Jace, you know I always have time for you. Besides, I could use a break."

"So, remember that woman I told you about? The one from Nate's burner phone?" Jason asked as the two of them walked with no specific destination in mind.

Theresa nodded as she focused on getting her haywire heart and uneven breathing under control. "Yeah, yeah. I remember. The one that may or may not have been Nate's side squeeze."

Theresa still didn't think Nate was a cheater, but she already said it twice and wasn't in the habit of repeating herself unless it was completely necessary. Seeing as Jason was one of the two people she told what she thought of the question, Theresa most definitely wasn't going to repeat herself.

Jason pulled a face. "Aren't you a little young to know that word? Squeeze. I mean, who even uses that word anymore?"

"Uh, you guys." She deadpanned. "And by you guys, I mean the guys around base. I've spent the last six years of my life on a Navy base and I understood within the first two weeks where the saying 'swearing like a sailor' comes from."

Jason rolled his eyes. "We're not that bad."

"No, Bravo's not, but some of the things I've heard around here, and things that's been said to me? It could make a prison yard blush." Theresa shrugged as she walked, shoving her hands inside of her pockets out of habit. She pulled them out with a grimace when sand greeted her. So, these clothes are going straight to the laundry bag.

"Anyway," Theresa stopped Jason from delving into that topic. "You were saying about the woman?"

"Right." Jason nodded, dug around in his leg pocket. He pulled out an envelope and held it out to Theresa. "So, I found these in a box of Nate's stuff from the garage."

Theresa swiped her dusty and sweaty hands on her pants before taking it. Her eyebrows rose when she saw two pictures of the same woman. One was a recently taken surveillance picture that was most probably Jason's handy work while the other was a older photo of a group somewhere in the Middle East.

"Afghanistan?" Was Theresa's easiest guess.

"Yeah, before your time, obviously, but I can't remember her either." Jason looked more than a little frustrated.

"Well, Ray and Sonny are in the photo as well, so why don't you ask one of them?" Theresa suggested.

"I was thinking the same thing, but not Ray because I told him I'd drop it."

"Why didn't you, then?"

"I was going to, then I found this and it made me wonder all over again." Jason explained and Theresa understood.

She nodded. "Just proceed with caution and discretion. Who knows what hornets nest you could kick open."

"Thanks for the advice, Tessa." Jason smiled at her.

The female mirrored it. "Always."

"So, how's that Spenser kid doing in his training?" Jason asked, looking like the very definition of reluctant as he spoke each word.

"My hearing must be going," Theresa teased with a large smirk on her face. "Cause it sounded like you just asked how Ash Spenser's son is doing in his Green training."

"You know what? Forget I asked." Jason grumbled.

"He's good," Theresa admitted, all teasing gone from her face. "Like, the best in his class. And if you don't believe me, you can always ask Adam."

"No, I believe you." Jason promised with a slight smile.

"Yeah, he's crazy fast too."

At that Jason smirked. "Faster than you."

Theresa scoffed indignantly. "Fuck no."

Jason gave her a curious if somewhat suspicious look and Theresa knew exactly what was coming. "How's your wound?"

"All good." Theresa pulled her shirt out of her pants and showed it to Jason for good measure. "Back to normal."

The Master Chief looked around, taking a good look at the obstacle course. "How many times have you run it?"

"Five times."

Jason nodded. "Just don't over do it."

Theresa rolled her eyes fondly at the concern. "I'm just going to do five more. Too lazy for anymore."

"Well, considering that by the end you will have run ten miles, I'd say it's plenty."

"Ten miles is not that much."

Jason fixed her a glare. "Don't over do it. That's an order."

"Yes, Sir." Theresa saluted with barely concealed amusement as Jason walked away with a light huff. Theresa coughed to hide the laughter than wanted to escape.

Everyone always whispers about how Bravo is the ultimate team to be on, how they are big and terrifying. Theresa finally let out a light chuckle as she walked to the starting point of the obstacle course, tucking her shirt back inside the waistband of her pants.

Big and terrifying, her ass.

They're a bunch of over protective teddy bears, the whole damn lot of them.

**SEAL TEAM**

"Are those homemade brownies?" Elena asked with a wide grin as Theresa entered the Reynolds' kitchen, after letting herself in with her own key. Cerberus, who greeted her at the door when she came inside, sat down in the entrance of the kitchen, waiting to be invited into the kitchen.

"Yes, they are." The female Seal nodded, placing the glass bowl down on the counter. It was a special recipe that Alana found for her – one that didn't require the use of nuts in it – because according to Mama Hayes, everyone needs to taste brownies at least once in their life.

After promising Brock and Elena that she'd finally stop by for dinner – its been three months – Theresa went home and made something to bring with. Elena always tells her it's not necessary but it makes her feel better, so its become somewhat of a tradition for Theresa to bring dessert whenever she dines with the Reynolds'.

She caught Elena's eye and motioned to Cerberus, silently asking if he's allowed inside. Elena nodded lightly and Theresa gave a low whistle, Cerberus padding inside and rubbing against the Seal's legs.

"I never understood why Cerberus listens to your commands quicker than mine when I've known him longer. Then I realised you see him more than I do and Brock probably taught you more tricks and tips for field use." Elena told her with a light laugh.

"He did," Theresa agreed. "But it comes in handy back home as well."

Elena's eyes strayed back to the brownies on her counter. "You know, you never did tell me where you got your epic kitchen skills."

"Well, according to Alana, I needed other life skills besides kicking ass, so she taught me how to cook and bake and stuff. I'm no Gordon Ramsey, but I can make a decent meal or ten." Theresa informed her matter-of-factly.

"Very smart woman." Elena laughed lightly once more.

"Yes, she is." Theresa continued the conversation as she walked closer to the stove and went to pry inside the pot simmering, but stopped with a warning glance from Elena. Instead, Theresa inhaled deeply. "Is that Spaghetti and meatballs?"

"Bingo." The blonde grinned at her widely.

Theresa tilted her head, finally realising that there is something missing from this picture. "Where is my best friend?"

Elena snorted, "Living room, he said something about watching something called The Following?"

"Ah," Theresa nodded in realisation. "I binged watching the first season a month or so ago, and told him about it, and now I'm not allowed to continue watching it until he catches up and we finish watching it together."

"Well, why don't you go join him and I'll call you two when dinner is done?" Elena suggested with a kind smile.

"Great idea." Theresa grinned back at her before turning around and making her way to the living room, Cerberus trotting behind her.

Elena looked after the female with a soft smile on her face. To think, back when she first met twenty-two year old Theresa Kane, she was so worried the younger woman would make her husband's eyes wander. Then she actually saw them together, playing catch with Cerberus in the front yard, and realised that there was nothing but pure friendship between them.

Elena knows, her husband is terribly protective of his best friend and visa versa. She knows, they love each other like brother and sister. She knows, their bond won't ever be broken. She knows, Theresa Kane has scars on her soul and a messed up past. She sees it in Theresa's guarded, sometimes flat and empty, eyes. She sees it in the way the Seal tenses every time Elena stands to close to her.

But in the past almost two years, Elena has also seen how much Theresa has grown. She sees it in the spark of light that enters her eyes as she laughs with Brock, and the way she sometimes dozed on their living room couch back before they made up a room for her and gave her a key. Something that made her husband almost burst with happiness and pride because Theresa rarely to never lets down her guard enough to fall asleep around people she doesn't feel comfortable with and trusts. Elena just shook her head with a small smile at her husband and said nothing.

To her it was obvious that Theresa trusts him. After all, it was only after a whole year of friendship that she agreed to meet Elena. So, by then - after watching each other's back in battle after all that time - Theresa had to trust him.

Now, Elena loves Theresa as part of their family. Sure, she is still standoff-ish at times – never with her husband, though – but Elena has gotten used to the female Seal and her temper, which is a terrifying sight to behold. Elena is also worried about her temper, that one day, Theresa will pick a fight she can't win or recover from.

Three weeks ago, Elena saw her husband cry for the first time since they got married. And they've been married for almost ten years. The reason why? Because Theresa got shot on a mission. Her heart ached when her husband – eyes red and puffy – fell asleep on her chest after telling her what happened. The female Seal has been injured in the line of duty before, but never this bad.

Of all his scars and wounds the Navy has given him and will still give him, Elena fears that someday loosing Theresa might be the one thing Brock would never recover from.

And while neither of them would openly admit it, she is sure it goes both ways.

Her heart twisted and her eyes burned a little. She walked over to the living room quietly, but the moment she peeked around the door frame, two pairs of eyes were already watching the doorway. She smiled at them as her cheeks flushed a little. She should have known that it would be impossible to sneak up on two fully trained Navy Seals.

"You guys want anything to drink?" Elena asked.

Brock smiled lovingly at her. "I'm good."

"You have any more beer?" Theresa asked with a wide grin.

"Whose my husband?" Elena retorted, lightly jabbing at the fact that all of Bravo seem to be somewhat addicted to beer, causing Theresa to snicker at Brock's offended 'hey'. "You know I love you." She soothed.

"Love you too." Brock's loving grin widened.

Elena left the room, heart lighter than it was seconds ago as she walked back to the kitchen, the sounds of their playful voices calming her.

Back in the living room, Theresa continued snickering at her best friend. "You are so whipped, dude."

"I am not." Brock sniffed defiantly.

"Yeah, tell that to the besotted look on your face." Theresa snorted in amusement as Cerberus came back into the house – he left after Theresa settled on the couch earlier – and jumped on the couch and laid down in between the two Seals.

"Well, so what if I am?" He asked, looking at her with a slight challenge in his eyes as he ran a hand over Cerberus.

Theresa smirked, "Nothing. It's cute."

Brock pulled a face, "I'm handsome and muscular. Not cute."

"Okay. Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Theresa rolled her eyes as she leaned over and grabbed the remote off the coffee table. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Brock watching her. She sat back on the couch, remote in her hands, and glanced at her best friend. "What?"

"How's your side?" He nodded to her right hip.

A sound of exasperation left Theresa's throat. "I swear to God, I don't know whose worse sometimes – you or Jason."

"Don't change the subject."

Theresa rolled her eyes again. Seems like they are getting quite the work out today. "It's been three weeks, I'm fine."

"Jay said your side bothered you in Estonia." He pointed out.

"Oh please," She scoffed. "That's like three countries and two missions ago."

"You are not funny, Tessa."

"I never claimed to be." She deadpanned. "Look, B, I'm fine. Yes, it bothered me a bit on the Baljic Op, but I got some painkillers to help, ran a couple of drills and hills, and now I'm fine. I swear. You know I wouldn't intentionally keep an injury from you. It can only lead to trouble."

"Yeah, I know." Brock admitted. "I just worry, is all."

"I know you do." Theresa assured him gently. "But you don't need to. I'm not going anywhere. And if I do, it will probably be protecting one of you. And I can't think of a better way to go down than protecting my family."

Brock had a sulky look on his face. "I prefer the scenario of you not going down at all."

"Yeah, me too, but you know what I mean." Theresa gave him a look, and Brock hummed in agreement. "So, let's pick up where you left off. You know, I've seen a lot in my life, but the crazies on this show is something else."

Brock snorted. "Tell me about it. I mean, with today's technology and satellites nearly everywhere, how difficult can it be to find a house in the middle of nowhere? It seems highly unrealistic that its so impossible for the FBI to find."

"Well, this show is a few years old already." Theresa shrugged. "And for an intriguing plotline they have to make use of reality as well as creativity."

"All I'm say is, if we had satellite imagery and a general location of where the house might be, we would have found it and taken over the house a long time ago."

"Yeah, but Seal's doesn't do missions on U.S soil, dumbass."

"I'm speaking hypothetically, here."

Theresa gave him a teasing grin, "What was it you were just saying about it being unrealistic?"

"Shut up." Brock grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Theresa laughed heartily, and rare as the sound was, Brock didn't take long to join in.

**a/n: **i was a little hesitant about posting this, but eh. i wanted something light and fluffy cause next episode brian dies and im still not really ready for that, but yeah. theresa is gonna comfort clay - in her own tessa way - so there's that. hope you enjoyed!


	16. High Praise

**Chapter Sixteen : High Praise**

"Maybe we should let Tessa and Brock run five extra miles." Sonny suggested in a pouty grumble as the whole of Bravo was participating in morning runs.

Jason and Ray was running next to each other, leading them, followed by Trent and Sonny while Brock and Theresa was at the back, jogging next to each other while Cerberus waited for them in the shade of a tree somewhere – Theresa didn't know where _exactly_, but she knew Brock knew. They didn't him continue running after they hit the five mile mark.

The best friend duo snickered at the Texan, exchanged a glance and Brock said with a large smirk, "Jealous much?"

"I think Sonny's right," Trent gave his own opinion, just as petulant as Sonny. "They ate those brownies all by themselves, which had a lot of calories, so I think it's only fair."

"I'm curious," Theresa started, just this side of out of breath. "How old are you two again?"

Ray chuckled at the bantering four behind him and Jason, "What are you two more pissed about, that they ate brownies or that they ate them without you?"

This whole thing stared when Brock and Theresa arrived together on base – she slept over in her own room that she has at the Reynolds' – and told the team how she went for dinner and brought homemade brownies for dessert. Sonny and Trent's been complaining ever since.

"Don't know what you're on about." Trent feigned ignorance.

Sonny did the same. "All we're saying is that they need to burn of the extra calories."

"Right, and if Tessa happened to make another batch and bring it to base for all of us, then I suppose they don't have to run the extra five miles?" Jason spoke up for the first time since they've started their fifteen mile run.

"Now see," Sonny started with a grin. "that sounds much more fair."

Theresa snorted as she eyed the two six foot toddlers running in front of her. "So, do you want Brock to tell Elena that she needs to make another pot of spaghetti with that, or . . .?"

"That's what I'm talking about." Trent grinned as well, he and Sonny exchanging glances and nodding in unison.

"Eleven."Jason announced from the front, meaning they had just finished running 11 miles and needed to run four more. He turned around and jogged backwards, looking amused and staring at Theresa. "Are you really going to make more brownies to shut them up?"

"If they want, sure. It's easy to make and I kind of like it." Theresa admitted and didn't even need to see Sonny's face to know that he opened his mouth to say something. "And Sonny, you better think twice before saying what you're about to, or the offer is off the table."

"Looking forward to it." Was what he settled with, causing the team to either snort or laugh – knowing that _that_ was in no way what he intended to originally say to her. Jason turned back around.

"Hey, Tessa, looks like you've got an admirer." Brock said suddenly, pointing somewhere to her right as he was on her left.

She rolled her eyes, "I don't care."

"You sure?" He pushed a little with a grin. He then wiggled his eyebrow as he said, "Cause this ones got blonde hair and blue eyes."

Immediately and involuntarily, her head swerved in the direction he was pointing. Sure enough, there stood Spenser, looking in the direction of where Bravo was jogging. The rest of Green was also there, doing their morning drills, which Spenser already finished – if he had time to look around. They were starting with the HALO jumps today – they were supposed to start last week but it was postponed to this week. Something about not having enough reserve shutes, which Theresa didn't understand, but didn't comment on because she really didn't care.

Instead, they did Deep Sea Diving Training – both during the day and at night time.

Seeing Spenser in a wetsuit had been an experience and a half – not that she would admit it out loud, but Theresa enjoyed herself – until it all went down hill. Or more like, it all went down boat. Two dumbasses egged each other on, which caused an argument to break out and ended with the one pushing the other overboard. Needless to say, both of them were thrown out of Green-training.

If you can't take your Tier One training seriously, then you don't deserve to be taken seriously or to be an Operator.

As Theresa was caught up in her thoughts, the rest of Bravo craned their necks, gazes alternating between Theresa and Spenser.

Finally, she shook herself out of it. Then Theresa almost smiled when Spenser waved at her. Instead, she just offered a wave of her own in return.

"Goldilocks better not try anything, or I'll rip his head off." Sonny vowed as he watched the interaction.

"It could have been worse." Trent noted matter-of-factly.

Up front, Jason didn't see how. "How exactly?"

"She could have gone for an Army guy." Trent shrugged and Bravo let themselves be mortified by that option for a few seconds. Then his eyes widened. "Ooh, or she could have picked a civilian, who is a complete asshole that cheats on her while she's off with us on missions or deployment."

"Come on, Trent," Ray huffed a light laugh. "Tessa has taste."

"Yeah, and besides, Spenser is like a love struck puppy." Brock snorted in amusement, ducking the head slap Theresa aimed his way.

She scowled at him, "Stop talking nonsense, B."

"Fine, fine." Brock nodded to placate her, hands up in defense. He wondered what she would do when she finally figured out that he wasn't talking nonsense. Theresa may not be able to see it, but Brock can see how Spenser looks at her so he knows. He knows Clay Spenser is totally gone for his best friend, because he looks the same way at Elena.

"At least he's pretty enough for her." Trent snickered at her.

"Yeah," Ray was nodding, much to Theresa's frustration. "Pretty girl and pretty boy, has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Oh, definitely." Brock agreed, watching in glee as the scowl on her face deepened. Clearly she didn't like the teasing.

Jason was so glad his back was to her, so she couldn't see the grin on his face. While he still didn't exactly like the fact that out of all the guys on the planet, Theresa apparently likes Clay Spenser – at least according to Brock, which is as good as admission from the woman herself in his books – he still likes teasing her. So, he just good naturedly teased along with his team, "Totally."

Besides, Trent was right. It could be worse.

"Little lady," Sonny drawled to get her attention. She made a noise of acknowledgement. "Don't listen to them." He paused, suppressing his laughter before saying, "The heart wants what it wants."

With a roar born out of exasperation, Theresa jumped on Sonny's back and tackled him to the ground. They rolled around, kicking up dust as they went. Jason, Brock, Ray and Trent just watched the two in fond amusement, shaking their heads. Bravo's two most notorious hotheads – playing around in the ground like children.

Ten minutes later, they were full of sand, dust and were breathless. They lay on their backs, chests heaving from both the goofing around and the eleven miles they ran. The rest of the team wasn't far away, walked closer when they saw the two were done.

Theresa, still out of breath, scoffed at them. "You guys are way too invested in my non existent love life."

They laughed again, but everyone dropped the subject when Jason ordered Sonny and Theresa to get up and for everyone to continue the run. Grateful, Theresa quickly and easily complied with his order. The rest of the run was filled with light teasing – which, thankfully, had nothing to do with Spenser.

Bravo had just finished showering, regrouped by their cages and was busy making plans to go out for drinks as a team that night, when their phones chimed collectively.

"Looks like drinks will have to wait." Ray commented, and they all made their way to the war room.

Bravo was seated around the table, inevitably called for help with the chaos that erupted after the elections in South-Sudan. It was yapped about so much these last few days, that you'd have to be an idiot in order not to know about it – if you were on base, that is. It was a bit of a toss up, who would go in when the country finally became to unstable – Alpha, Bravo or Charlie. Delta and Echo was otherwise occupied – or so she heard. If Theresa had to guess about the mission, she'd say it has something to do with the American Embassy. She also wondered why the hell they haven't abandoned it yet. But she was not curious enough to actually go and ask someone about it.

"We've been talking all week about what might happen if the violence in South Sudan continues to escalate after the elections." Mandy was saying. "As discussed, the election was marked by widespread fraud. A lot of people in the opposition are blaming us."

"What did we do?" Sonny asked.

"What, in Africa?" Jason questioned as an answer.

"Yeah." Sonny nodded.

"Not about what we did, so much as what they think we did." Theresa answered from where she was sitting next to Lisa. "Best guess is, they think we're the ones who rigged the election."

"That's bull." He grumbled.

"I know that. You know that. We all know that." Theresa said before she raised a brow at him, "But are you going to go and try to convince an entire country of that?"

Mandy went on again, "So far, the violence has been confined to the rural areas up north, but it's spreading. Hannah Parsons was an American NGO worker in South Sudan. She and her driver were murdered last night by an anti-government tribal militia. Just outside of Juba. Six miles from the American embassy."

Theresa let out a low whistle – that's much to close for comfort.

"Okay. So you want us to evacuate the embassy?" Jason asked his Commander.

"So far, just of nonessential personnel." Eric stepped closer monitors. "There's 35 Americans still in that embassy. We're going in to keep them safe while they try to hold the place together. Then we get them out, things go the other way."

"Or, so after it goes Benghazi, the DOD can say they had a Tier One team on the ground." Ray translated with a knowing tone as Jason pushed up from his chair, moved to stand behind it.

Jason looked back at his commander, "Why not just bring in a couple hundred Marines, Expeditionary Unit?"

"Problem is, so far, the ruling party's rejected our offer to send in a MEU." Eric answered him.

"They feel it gives the appearance they've lost control." Mandy informed them, causing Theresa to snort in disbelief.

Jason, along with all of Bravo, was more than a little irritated and it showed in his tone. "Well, we wouldn't want to give that appearance."

Theresa's face soured into something comical. "They do realize that this is life and death, not _Keeping up with the Kardashians_, right?"

Lisa's head swiveled to her, laughter escaping her lips. "I'm sorry, no offense, but how exactly do you, of all people, know who the Kardashians is?"

"Because I grew up with a now seventeen year old girl who was once obsessed with it and forced me to binge watch it with her and explain whatever she didn't understand." Theresa answered in a deadpan voice.

Lisa tried to stop her laughter at the image that projected, but couldn't.

"Uh, excuse me," Sonny interrupted. "What or who exactly is the Kardashians?"

Trent and Brock also looked mildly curious.

"It's a reality show." Lisa answered shortly and simply.

Brock frowned, "About what?"

Theresa gave her best friend a very unimpressed, very flat look, "The Four Horsemen." Her voice was drier than the Sahara, getting a snigger from Ray and Trent.

Jason looked back at Eric, letting his team have their way for a little. "How long 'til we're wheels up?"

"Sixty minutes." Eric answered loud enough for everyone to hear. No one commented, but everyone felt a little shocked at how soon they would be leaving. He cleared his throat. Bravo quiet down and gave him their attention. "Go get geared up and don't be late."

Ten seconds later, the war room was clear of every member of Bravo, their Commander included.

An hour and a half later, they were somewhere up in the clouds, on their way to South-Sudan. It would be a fifteen hour flight, which would give Bravo plenty of nap time and time to throw around possible scenario's. But before they could get to that, they need to get a rundown of their cars – cause apparently there was no need for extra discretion and they could take their own personalized weapons.

Lisa was giving them the tour of their wheels for the mission. "Your vehicles got armor everywhere except for the windows, 'cause you say they needed to roll down."

"Oh, look, if you can't put the windows down, people are gonna know it's an armored car." Jason explained, because he had given Davis some pretty detailed and specific instructions that Theresa winced at but understood completely. Theresa didn't know how she does it, all the female Seal knows is that Lisa Davis is a angel in disguise.

"Are we supposed to stop and wave, or something?" Theresa snarked a little sharper than usual, lifting an eyebrow as she pushed her hands into her pockets. The female understood Jason's reasons, but she was feeling a little off kilter and she didn't like it – so she needed to let it out the only other way she knew how except for her fists. The brunette liked even less when twenty minutes into the fifteen hour plane ride, when she figured out _why _she was feeling this way.

Brock side eyed his best friend – she's been pricklier and snarkier than usual, seeming restless and fidgety.

Lisa smiled slightly before continuing. "Anyway, the body should stop an AK round. Your precious roll-down windows are liable to shatter if one of the local kids hits it with a baseball."

"We're diverting." Eric came around the second car, not looking very happy with this development but not having a say or a choice about it either.

Jason wanted to understand why. "What do you mean 'we're diverting'?"

"Airport's not secure." Eric explained, much to the surprise of no one, as he walked to the back of the armored car and opened up a paper map. "Command wants us to land at an old military airfield southeast of the city. Wants me to stay there, coordinate with the Marine C.O., make sure that the runways stay operational in case we all need to get out of this country in a hurry."

"I'll find out what assets we have down there." Lisa talked as she walked to go and do just that.

"All right." Jason agreed, turned his head to the CIA Agent. "What's the local security like?"

"Not good." She admitted. "But the State Department RSO on the other hand's got a good rep. His name's Doyle. Bunch of people I know worked with him in Tunis."

"One man can only do so much." Theresa noted, squatting before sitting down flat on her ass on the floor of the C-17.

"What about the ambo?" Blackburn asked.

"Crowley." Mandy said the word in tone that made Theresa's hackles rise. Mandy didn't like him then. Well, if she didn't like him – and the CIA Agent was willing to work with just about anyone for info or to reach her goal – then Theresa is going to hate him. "Technically, he's not the ambo, he's acting ambassador until a new one gets appointed."

"All right. What can you tell us about Crowley?" Blackburn wanted all of the facts.

"Well, our analysts think he should've ordered the evac already. Shutter the embassy, stay away until things stabilize. The good news is, so far, the anger hasn't been focused on the embassy." Mandy explained.

Ray knew where she was heading with her train of thought, his was there too. "Bad news is, that's the kind of thing can change real quick."

"Yeah." Jason agreed.

Theresa tilted her head up at the CIA Agent. "So basically, this Crowley-dude is the one that doesn't want to loose appearances?"

"Yes." Mandy nodded.

Theresa had this foreboding feeling she was going to break her two month long clean slate and punch this guy.

**SEAL TEAM**

An hour into their flight, Theresa was still restless and prickly, mood only getting worse by the second. She choose to distance herself from the team, who had set up hammocks in the back of the plane while Theresa was sitting on top of one of the vehicles, her duffle bag that was filled with knives next to her. Slowly and methodically, she started to sharpen a silver set of five knives. When she first left, Jason told them to let her go and do her thing. She'd come down when she was ready.

Four hours later, she was done with sharpening _all_ of her knives. Jason watched her from the corner of his eye, and when she picked up a cloth to start polishing them, the Master Chief nodded his permission to Brock and the Canine Handler almost flew out of his hammock to move over to her.

Brock was careful not to disturb one of the ten knives that lay down in front of Theresa. While it may not look like an order or a pattern to him, he knew to her it was in order and knew not to disturb it. He sat down across from her, legs crossed.

She didn't so much as acknowledge his presence, back ramrod straight as she focused on her task and nothing else. Still, Brock knew that right now she was more dangerous than ever – she had her favorite weapon(s) to kill with right in front of her and a single minded determination that would only result in death if someone tried to attack her right now.

"What's with you?" He finally asked, breaking the silence. "You don't look angry."

Theresa's hands didn't falter, her eyes didn't look up from her task but she answered, "I'm not. And nothing."

"Yeah, and the sky is bright pink." Brock's sarcastic jab was accompanied by rolled eyes. No reaction – not even a twitch of the lips in amusement. Now he began to feel a bit worried. What happened on the plane? Because she was fine before they left. "Come on, Tessa, what gives?"

For a long while she didn't answer, but appeared to be thinking about something as she polished her knife. Then another. And another. And then her shoulders slumped, a sigh slipped from her lips. "It's stupid."

_Okay_, Brock reason with himself, _this is progress_. It went from nothing to stupid. That means she's admitting that there is _something_ bothering her.

"It's making you upset, that's not nothing or stupid, Tessa." Brock reasoned with her this time.

"Then why do I feel like an idiot and off kilter every time I think about it, never mind saying it out loud?" Theresa finally looked up at him, a challenging glint in her eyes but that's not what caught Brock's attention. Oh no. It was the slight pink hue on her cheeks that did that.

"Well, I can't give you an answer if you don't tell me what it is." The curly haired man retorted.

Theresa let out a sound crossed somewhere between a groan and a whine. Brock wisely hid his laughter.

Theresa mumbled something unintelligible, Brock couldn't understand her. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said," Theresa started again, voice somehow reluctant, irritated and pouty all at once. "I didn't get to see Spenser before I left."

That . . . was _not _what Brock had expected. At all. His mouth dropped open and his brows shot to his hairline. "What?"

Now looking disgruntled, and cheeks heading up even further, Theresa explained. "I've been restless since I set foot on this plane. At first I didn't get why, but then I figured it out. For the last few weeks, before a mission, I was always busy with something on Green, helping Adam and I'd always see Spenser before I left. But not today, not for this mission."

Brock was getting more shocked with every word that left his best friend's mouth. "Huh?"

Theresa groaned, thinking that Brock thought she was being silly. He'd be right if he did, she certainly thought so. "See, I told you it was dumb."

Only, Brock didn't think she was being dumb. He was just shocked and surprised with how much Spenser already had an impact on Theresa's life. His brain was still catching up, processing all of this new information, so he really didn't mean to blurt out, "Wow, you like him way more than I thought."

Immediately a scowl formed on her face, "I don't like him."

Brock scoffed in disbelief. "Bullshit. You spent a week in a mood because he told you that you're intimidating, you care what he thinks about you, you're sulking because you couldn't see him before we left, and now you are trying to tell me you don't like him?"

That left Theresa in a reeling silence.

"Okay, maybe I like him a little." She admitted with pinched brows. "Like a teeny-tiny bit." She pinched her thumb and index finger together in example. "But does he have to know? Does this mean we have to be friends? I don't want that, he's still a Greenie."

"No, he doesn't have to know. It's none of his business." Not yet, at least, Brock added in his mind.

"Okay." Theresa nodded to herself, a sigh of relief lifting a weight from her chest that she wasn't even aware of.

Part of Theresa's previous words made Brock wonder though. So, he pushed his luck a little. "And if he wasn't? A Greenie, I mean. Would you be friends then?"

Theresa nodded. "Sure, then we could have been friends. Underneath that entire cocky and know-it-all exterior, he's kind and smart and even though he has his own problems, he's still a better person than most of the people I've met."

Brock's brows rose again, this time all by themselves. "Coming from you? That is high praise."

"Whatever." Theresa muttered, cheeks heating up out of nowhere.

Reminding himself that Theresa is still unaware of the fact that she likes Clay Spenser in a romantic manner, Brock took a little pity on her. He could only push so much before she would slam shut. What she told him today was already more than he ever expected to hear from her. "So, friends then?"

"Yes. Friends." Theresa nodded firmly.

"Like me and you?" Brock teased, trying to resolve more of the tension in his best friend.

It didn't work.

Her brows furrowed deeply, but her words made Brock grinned widely. "No. Not like us. I can have lots of friends, but there is only room for one best friend in my life."

Theresa ignored the pesky little voice in her head that told her that friend wasn't the right description for Spenser either.

**SEAL TEAM**

The sun was glaring down on them, where they were driving from the old military airport that was hidden between sand mountains and dunes. Dressed up in civvies, Bravo – Mandy and Lisa included, but Eric excluded – was split into two. Jason, Ray, Theresa and Sonny in the first vehicle – with the Texan driving. Brock, Trent, Mandy and Lisa in the second one – with the Canine Handler driving.

"This is the American-Sudanese Radio Network. South Sudanese rebel leaders say recent presidential election results are fraudulent, and blame the U.S. for meddling. They are calling for nationwide protests and an ouster of President Salva Kiir." The radio informed them as they drove.

Luckily they didn't run into any trouble on their way to the embassy, and got there relatively easily – if you looked past the bumpy drive.

"Gonna be a shit show, things turn ugly." Sonny noted from the front seat, next to Jason, as the gates to the embassy was opened for them.

Ray and Theresa sat in the back. Theresa snorted, "It's already a shit show."

"You know what I mean." He gave her a look in the rearview mirror.

She nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I do."

Inside the embassy was chaos. It looked like a hurricane hit the place – boxes and papers everywhere, people with folders and files rushing to and from anywhere and everywhere. Luckily, they quickly side stepped Bravo when they noticed them.

"Lawrence Doyle, RSO. Welcome to the U.S. embassy." A middle age man who greeted them at the doors introduced himself as they made their way inside the embassy. Theresa had her bag with knives slung across one shoulder while her bag with her rifle case, clothes and ammo, was held in the other. "Roadblocks in the rural areas have started to disrupt distribution networks. We're already looking at food shortages."

"How long?" Jason asked from where he was next to Doyle up front.

"Till it all falls apart? It depends who you ask. This country's only existed a few years. Been at civil war most of that time. Plus, the nut-bars in charge up north are just looking for a chance to take it all back, reunify the Sudanese nation." Doyle explained to them, Bravo following along as he turned hallways, making his way around easily.

"And, one day, inshallah, the entire nation of Nubia." Mandy commented.

Doyle was clearly impressed with Mandy. "Somebody follows the news."

"Might even say it's my job." The CIA Agent commented matter-of-factly. They stopped outside a room that said 'Operations Center' that Doyle opened for them.

"I'm glad you're here. This place is going south fast." That was the last Theresa heard of Doyle's voice as she entered the room, eyes sweeping over the area out of habit. It looked like a large office area – desks with computers, phones on the walls, stacks of bottled water, printers and people that gave them wide-eyed glances. They weren't trying to be obvious about it, but a Seal is trained to notice every little detail.

"This is nice." Trent commented.

Sonny nodded, "Nicer than some of the places we've been."

"I bet anything is nice for you so long as it doesn't involve the jungle or the ocean." Theresa snickered as each of Bravo choose a desk for themselves.

"Oh, haha, little lady. Hilarious." He shot back dryly, setting down his bags.

Hands now free of bags, Theresa gestured to the smiling or smirking faces of Bravo. "My audience doesn't lie."

Jason poked his head through the door. "Six, on me."

Theresa frowned at him, "Why?"

"Because I said so." Was all explanation he offered before backing out of the door.

"Roger that." She shrugged, starting to walk after him. At the door she turned back to her team, pointed at her two bags. "Anyone tries to touch my stuff, hit them."

Theresa walked back out into the hall way and turned her head left. No Jason. Turned her head right and, oh there he goes around the corner. Theresa broke out into a light jog to catch up with him. When she fell into step with him on his free side – Doyle on his other side, she gave Jason a curious glance.

"Why am I – out of everyone – being pulled along with you?" Theresa questioned.

Jason gave her a pointed look, "You're young and pretty."

"You're using me as bait?" She gave him a deadpan look.

"I want to see his attention span." Jason shrugged.

Theresa rolled her eyes, "This is so dumb, just so you know."

"Oldest tricks in the book often work the best." Jason gave her a grin and she huffed lightly and didn't say anything else. Thank fully.

They waited for him in front of an open door that led to a small outside area – like a place to eat or smoke or something.

"Here's Crowley." Doyle said as a man with combed back hair and a black suit stepped through the doors. Seeing as he was on his phone – probably fending off calls from diplomats back home or vulture reporters from everywhere – Theresa highly doubted he had time to eat or smoke. She couldn't find it in herself to feel sorry for herself.

"Welcome, Commander." He greeted Jason with a hand shake, but his eyes lingered on Theresa, who resisted the urge to punch him. She just met him and she doesn't like him. "Uh, I'm sure Mr. Doyle-"

"Master Chief." Jason cut him off immediately.

"Excuse me?" Crowley didn't understand what the man meant.

"I'm in E-9." Jason explained.

"Uh, you're not an officer?" He looked vaguely confused.

"Sorry to disappoint." Jason snarked, causing Theresa to suppress a snort. Seems like she wasn't the only one who is utterly unimpressed with the guy.

"Uh, as I was saying, uh, Mr. Doyle here can find work for you." Crowley either didn't want to be questioned or tried to get rid of them, or he was just plain choosing to ignore the problems they were facing. "The regional security officer is, after all, responsible for our security matters."

"Right, Mr.Ambassador, but you are the man in charge here." Jason pointed out, and oh yeah. Now Theresa knew he didn't like Crowley. Mockingly lording his title over him? Classic Jason. "That makes you responsible for everything.

"Don't I know it?" He asked rhetorically, mind wondering about the attractive brunette girl that came with the Navy man. Who is she?

"You seem awful relaxed for someone who's host country is about to go down the drain." Theresa remarked, crossing her arms over her chest. Nearly letting them drop again when Crowley's eyes flickered down to her breasts, instead fixing Crowley with a sharp look when he look up at her and realized he was caught staring.

He gave her a flirty smile that made her feel like punching him again, "There is still time to fix this, no need to panic yet, darling."

"Did you just call me darling?" Theresa's eyes narrowed into slits, taking a threatening step forward. Jason placed a hand on her shoulder – both to restrain and warn her.

"It's an expression." He told her blithely, seeing that his attempt at flirty was not accepted or appreciated.

The female Seal plastered on a fake smile, shrugged Jason's hand off her shoulder. "Oh, well, the Russians has this wonderful expression, loosely translated it means:" Her faux cheery expression dropped into her customary killer glare, voice going void of any emotion. "Call me darling again and I'm going to dislocate your fucking jaw."

Finally getting the hint that she was not playing around or interested, he quickly backtracked – both physically, taking two steps away from her, and with his words. "No need to get defensive, it's just a term of endearment."

"Yes, something you say to someone dear to you. You are not dear to me." Her voice was cold and harsh, glare intensifying with every passing second. "As a matter of fact-"

Jason stepped behind Theresa, placing both his hands on her shoulders, squeezing slightly as a silent command for her to stop. "I think what Tessa is trying to say is that calling her Kane or Four will work just fine."

"Shall we?" Crowley asked, pointing to the room and entering without waiting for an answer. Anything to escape the woman who looked like she might hang him from the flagpole by his toe-nails if he didn't stop breathing the same air as her.

Theresa turned around in Jason's grip to look at the man himself, "Can I hit him?"

"No." Jason denied as he ushered her into the room, hiding a grin as Theresa pouted.

**a/n:** my research for this episode lead me to a whole page explaining the ranking system of the navy (because i didn't understand jason's comment about e-9) and now i feel like an even bigger idiot for making tessa an lt. commander, but in my defense my only research back then was wikia (which wasn't very informative, go figure) and i wasn't as invested in this story back then as i am now.

originally, i wasn't going to make it a long story – it was just going to be three chapters. where clay first saw her and fell in love, where they meet and where she falls in love with him as well and then i was going to leave it open ended. then before i started the third chapter, i re-watched the first episode, and then a whole character and back story and love story somehow sprouted from me re-watching one episode. and here we are. so yeah. once again, much apologies about that little blib.

anyhoo, i hope you still enjoy my story dispite that.


	17. To Be A Warrior

**Chapter Seventeen : To Be A Warrior**

Even from inside the building, Theresa could hear the chanting of _'go home_' from the protestors outside the gates of the Embassy. That made her a little angsty because if those protestors choose to storm the Embassy, they would all be dead. Bravo only has so much ammo. And to top it all off, there was an arrogant and unreasonable idiot that someone, somewhere thought it was a good idea to make an Ambassador, stonewalling every suggestion that was made.

"If this was Beirut, we would have been out two days ago." The man sitting next to Theresa commented, his nervousness showing in the way he was tapping his fingers against the desk they all sat.

"Why we get danger pay." Crowley reasoned, walking past Theresa's back on his way to the head of the table. The female Seal fantasized about cutting out his tongue – for no reason other than to stop the man from speaking anymore."We can't just pack up and leave every time there's a protest. We leave, we send a message that democracy's failed." He sat down, continuing to sprout all kinds of bullshit. "I'm not ready to pull down the flag just yet."

"Well, you wait long enough, they'll come here and pull it down for you." The same man from earlier told him, and Theresa silently agreed with him.

"Dan, how many times have we seen this stuff bubble up and die back down?" Crowley retorted.

Jason, who had been wordlessly listening to the conversation around him, finally decided to speak up himself. "Why don't you just restrict self-driving till things die back down again, like you mentioned?"

"Well, Lieutenant," Crowley started snidely and Theresa got up from her chair, anger burning through her veins at the blatant disrespect towards the Master Chief.

"Sit down." Jason ordered calmly, and although she looked extremely disgruntled, Theresa immediately did as ordered. But, oh, if looks could kill, Crowley would be well on his way to the morgue right now.

"Sorry. Chief. Uh, here in Juba, we don't like to send a message that it's dangerous to move freely in the streets." Crowley told him matter-of-factly.

"Right now it is dangerous to move freely in these streets!" Theresa exploded, voice something short of a snarl, hands shooting out in front of her and she immediately gripped the table, so tightly her knuckles turned white. Jason had already told her no, she can't hit him and to sit down. She choose to let her eyes wander around the room, she didn't want to look at that idiot's face anymore.

Jason, on the other hand, looked calm and collected but Theresa knew him well enough to hear to disbelief and judgment in his voice – no matter how well he hid it to others. "So, your security protocol is, pretend everything's okay?"

"Our security protocol, at the moment, is to bring in a team of special operators to ensure that things remain okay." Crowley answered smoothly.

"Well, just so we're clear, we have six shooters, including myself, and we're really good, but we can't stop a civil war."Jason informed him.

"I know we're supposed to admire a man for admitting his limitations, but I'd always rather see someone transcend them." Crowley's tone and words had Theresa's head whipping to him once more, killer glare in place as her hands gripping the table turned into clenched fists that rested on the table, nails pressing crescent moon indents to her palms. The nervous man next to her inched his chair further away from her. "Thank you, Chief. Now, uh, as I was saying . . ."

Doyle leaned over to the Master Chief, "Appreciate the effort."

"Well, you can't shame a guy who's got no shame." Jason whispered back.

Theresa huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Forget shame. I'd like to put my fist to his skull and knock some good ole common sense into him."

She rolled her eyes and tuned Crowley out as Doyle looked at his phone, then leaned over again, looked at Jason and Theresa. "Some teachers stuck at the American School."

"Need some help?" Jason offered, and Theresa all but sagged in relief. If she had to listen to that dumbass's voice for one more minute, she might just disobey Jason's orders for the first time in her life.

"Won't say no." Doyle accepted the offer.

"Let's go." Jason said, and the three of them rose from their chairs instantly – as eager to escape this room as they are to save some lives.

"I'm sorry," Crowley called to them. All three stopped, but only Doyle and Jason turned around to face him. Theresa kept staring at the door that promised freedom from idiocy. She breathed in deeply, started counting to ten as she exhaled slowly. _One, two, three_. "Uh, where exactly are you gentlemen, plus one lady, going?"

"We have some business at the American School." Jason answered simply, and also done with this so called Ambassador's attitude.

_Four, five, six, seven._

Crowley was immediately on his high horse. "I didn't authorize that."

_Fuck it._

"We don't work for you." Theresa spat as she whirled around to face him, withering glare on her face, something feral glinting in her eyes. She needed to get out of here before she decked him, because Jason said no, she can't hit him.

"You're okay with us saving three American teachers?" Jason asked condescendingly, some part of him deeply satisfied when for the first time this ass didn't have an answer ready. "Yeah, I thought so."

Outside in the hallway, Theresa was taking lots of deep breaths, trying to get rid of the anger in her chest. Jason, used to her temper, didn't bat an eye. Doyle, who didn't know her at all, side eyed her warily. He looked at Jason, "She's not going to attack someone at any moment, is she?"

Jason found it in him to give a half smile, "Not unless any further provoked, no."

Doyle eyed her again, took two steps away from her. He nodded, mostly to himself. "Right."

"Can you believe that guy?" Jason let out a little of his own steam.

Theresa scoffed in anger and frustration, "There is something really wrong with him."

He looked her over, "You good?"

"I'd feel a whole lot better if you'd let me punch him." Theresa grumbled, more than a little childish.

"Not happening, Tessa." Jason told her warningly. Not that he needed to, she got the message the first time he said no.

Still, that didn't stop her from huffing in displeasure. "Yeah, I figured."

The conversation between the three stopped for a while as they walked back to the Operations Center. Jason remembered something that he wondered about earlier, looked down at Theresa, tilted his head at her. "I've been wondering."

"About?" She looked up at him, a frown resting between her brows.

"Does the Russian's really have a saying like that?" Jason asked, his curiosity showing clearly on his face.

"Not as far as I'm aware, no." Theresa admitted, smiling up at her oldest friend, tension and anger slowly fading. "But how would that ignorant dumbass know that?"

**SEAL TEAM**

"We're two minutes out from the American School." Jason let Mandy know over comms. This time all of Bravo – minus Ray who stayed behind at the Embassy – shared one vehicle. Trent was driving, Jason was riding shotgun, Brock was in the passenger seat behind Jason while Sonny sat behind Trent and Theresa was sandwiched between Brock and Sonny. Doyle and his two deputy's was following behind them in their own vehicle.

Theresa couldn't hear what was being said, but wasn't all that curious and was by now used to Jason having one-sided conversations with anyone in TOC. She probably could put in her earpiece and listen if she really wants to know, but she doesn't. She may tolerate Mandy for missions, but when she can, she still tunes the other woman out.

"Not so far. Anything I need to know?" The Master Chief asked. He was silently, listening to Mandy's answer. Theresa shifted a little – her Glock was tucked into the waistband of her jeans, and was digging into her back. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable and a little annoying. She wiggled herself downwards, pulling her feet up and resting them in between the two front seats, back not pressed against the seat again. Much better.

"No change in the evac status?" Jason questioned. The rest of Bravo knew from the way his mood didn't lift that Crowley still hasn't changed his mind.

The car came to a halt and Theresa rolled her eyes. Just as she had found a comfortable sitting position.

"What's the rules of engagement?" Sonny asked before they got out and Theresa put in her earpiece – if their she or her brother's find any trouble, she didn't want to take time to mess with that.

"We don't speak unless spoken to. Guy wants to raise up, kill him." Jason told them and Bravo got out. Theresa adjusted her dark grey-blue v-neck as she got out of the car, eyes sweeping all over the immediate area around them. A few of what looked like protestors were in front of the school, most probably looking for more American students to terrorize.

"I didn't get to say hello." Sonny commented as he threw a smoke grenade, while Theresa grabbed her black leather gloves from the back of her jeans pockets and pulled them on.

Frightened from both the sound and the smoke, the Sudanese men started running away from the building, the one even tripping in his haste to get away, some even shouting in their native language as they went. The Seal's and the Security Officers watched the commotion until the runners all disappeared.

"Okay. Set a perimeter." Jason ordered Doyle and his men before they all started walking to the school building. Inside the building, Jason gave his team their orders. "Alright, Sonny you're with me. We'll take bathrooms and library. Trent, Brock and Tessa, you three clear the classrooms. We meet up outside."

Bravo split up, pulling their guns, removed the safety and flicked on the LED flashlights attached to their weapons, Brock and Trent cleared empty classroom after empty classroom, while Theresa guarded the door and watched the hallway for anyone trying to creep up on them. Trent informed Jason over comms that all the classrooms were clear, and the three Bravo members walked outside to watch the perimeter with Doyle and his guys.

It was under thirty seconds later when Theresa grew restless and glanced back at the entrance of the school with a slight frown. "How long does it take to clear a library?"

"Considering the fact that it takes up half of the school, it might take a while." Brock informed his fidgety best friend.

Trent frowned, "How'd they get that many books over here anyways?"

"Airmail?" Theresa suggested with a shrug, eyes looking at every window, corner and sturdy looking tree she could spot – watching for movement that would show that their being watched. She knew Brock and Trent was doing the exact same thing, even as they were having a conversation, because that's what they were trained to do.

One of Doyle's men eyed Theresa with a whole lot of curiosity. He pulled all of his courage together and asked, "So, you're really a Seal, huh?"

Theresa rolled her eyes. Good grief. Sure, a female Seal was rare, but was it honestly that surprising? No, not surprising, she supposed, just . . . _intimidating_. The word flashed across her mind along with a pair of blue eyes, blonde hair and a soft smile that left her breathless every time she was on the receiving end of it. Most of the annoyance she felt at the question died down as she thought of how Spenser told her that she is intimidating, how she was so bothered by it, and how relieved she was when he eventually told her that he meant it in a good way.

"Yes, I am." Theresa answered distractedly. Mind on Spenser, and how he's doing with his HALO jumps, while her eyes were focused on her surroundings, looking for any sign of hostiles.

Brock sneaked a glance at his best friend and hid a smirk. She had her '_Thinking of Spenser_' look on her face right now which has been becoming more and more frequent lately. It's when she gets this unbelievably soft look on her face – which he's never seen on her before, the corners of her lips turning up ever so slightly. Not that Brock told her that she has a face like that, or she'll remove any and all emotion from her face, impossible for anyone – except of course Jason, and while Brock hasn't been able to figure out what she is feeling or thinking when she slams shut, he hopes to one day reach that point – to read at all.

Before Doyle's man could ask Theresa another question – and inadvertently lighting the fuse of her short temper – Jason and Sonny came out of the school with an American teacher and two students. So that's why they were taking a while longer than expected. Theresa flicked on her safety and put her Glock in the waistband of her jeans.

"We're gonna get you out of here." Jason was telling them as he and Sonny handed the three off to Theresa, Brock and Trent, who quickly checked them over for injuries before handing them over to Doyle's men.

"We'll take it from here, make sure they get to the airport." Doyle informed them, while his two subordinates got the teacher and her two students in their car.

"Right. You want us on your six?" Jason asked as Bravo made their way to their own vehicle.

"No, so far, the airport road is still clear. Crowley's got a job he wants you on. He wants you to evac two American aid workers. He figured he'd send the pipe hitters to bring 'em home." Doyle was saying to Jason as Bravo got into their vehicle.

"Might be the first good decision he's made." Jason commented.

"I'll second that." Theresa agreed as she got comfortable between Sonny and Brock in the back.

Bravo drove in a companionable silence – no words needing to be said. They were comfortable enough around each other that the quiet was noise enough.

"We're approaching the checkpoint." Jason keyed in to TOC.

Theresa heard Mandy's voice coming through comms. "Copy. Be advised, rebels have been taking over checkpoints, but even the officers in the National Army tend to switch side when the weather changes."

"Copy that. Thanks for the warning." Said Jason.

Sonny didn't like being blindsided. "I thought the army was on our side."

"Heads on a swivel, boys. Tessa, get in the back and stay down. Don't know how friendly these guys are gonna be." Jason ordered from the passenger seat.

Theresa gaped then huffed, "Seriously, Jace?"

"Yes." His tone left no room for argument. Theresa climbed over the back seat and did as told, making noises of disgruntlement as she went.

"That DShK right there is gonna rip this thing to shreds." Sonny noted and Theresa peaked a little over the backseat to look and when she whistled lowly, two hands came for her head and pushed her down. She smacked at Sonny and Brock's hands, a little annoyed. Good Lord, she is just as trained as them.

"I'll frag it." Trent said as Sonny handed him a MP7, and he handed it to Jason.

"All right, guys. Let's just try and look friendly." Jason told them.

"I'm always friendly." Sonny claimed.

"Okay, Wreck-It-Ralph." Theresa snorted from where she was laying down, staring at the ceiling of the SUV.

"Inspection. Everyone out." One of the Sudanese National Army members ordered Bravo.

"I'm sorry. That's not gonna happen, boss." Jason denied him, and Theresa silently retrieved her Glock from the waistband of her skinny jeans.

"Inspection!" The accented military man repeated.

"Sorry, we can't do that." Jason repeated his answer as well.

"Are you insane, sir? Do you want to die here?" The Sudanese man asked him, walking closer to the car. Theresa lied completely still, breathing even, hand on her gun tightening and index finger moving to the trigger as an instinctive reaction to the threat.

Jason leveled the man with a look, "Can you lean in? I want to show you something. Come on, I know I can't do anything. That machine gunner there is gonna turn me into pink mist. Come on, take a look in. I want to show you something. Look down. That's a full mag from an MP7 pointed straight at your waist. Now, I know as soon as the shooting starts, that DShK is gonna tear us to pieces. But what I want you to know, whatever else happens, you'll die. Maybe you'll last a couple hours with your balls blown off and your guts hanging out of your stomach. Personally, I'd rather be vaporized by the DShk. Nobody wins. So, what do you say we give peace a chance?"

"Stand back, boys. Lower your weapons." The man ordered and Bravo's tensed bodies relaxed. He ordered some of them in their language, then looked back to Jason and asked, "John Lennon, yes?"

Jason's only reply was a smug little smirk as Trent drove them away. It took a while for them to reach the American Aid Center and if it wasn't for the glorious invention called maps, then Theresa was sure they would have gotten lost out here, bumfuck in the middle of nowhere.

Jason got out of the car and while he and Sonny went to talk to Erik Wilkenson, the rest of Bravo got out of the car but stayed near it, and watched the perimeter for any signs of trouble.

Theresa looked at the children running around and her heart gave a tug. She sighed from her spot next to Brock and he raised a brow in her direction.

"What's that for?" Brock asked, eyes going back to their surroundings.

"Nothing. Just thinking how bad it must be to grow up in a warzone." Theresa shrugged, sunglasses shielding her eyes that was full of emotions.

"Well, I mean, you kind of did." Brock gave her a pointed look, referring to the truth about her past.

Theresa snorted, "No, my mother trained me to be a warrior, maybe even a killer, but it wasn't a warzone. Not at all."

Brock was quiet for a few seconds. "If you could go back, and choose something different for yourself, would you?"

"No." Theresa didn't have to think about it.

Brock frowned. He honestly didn't expect that. With the life Theresa had – and that's talking about before she joined Bravo, or even the Navy – he really thought that she would say yes. "Why?"

"Because then I wouldn't have all of you." Theresa answered simply, gesturing with her head around to the rest of Bravo.

Before Brock could respond, a semi-fuming Sonny walked them. Theresa raised her eyebrows at Jason, who wasn't far behind Quinn. "What's the word?"

"They're not coming." Jason told the rest of his team. "They know what could happen and they still want to stay."

"Is it wrong that I'm weirdly impressed?" Theresa asked, tilting her head in thought. Brock and Jason shook their heads 'no' and she grinned.

"So, we wasted our time?" Trent asked.

Jason dreaded telling his team, especially Theresa, the rest of it, but he doesn't believe in lying without a purpose. "Yeah, and what's even worse, is that Crowley already knew. He spoke to Wilkenson a few hours before we arrived."

Theresa's grin fell from her face and she clenched her fists tightly. She looked at Jason, anger burning hotly through her veins. "Are you sure I can't hit him?"

"Positive." Jason nodded, hiding a small smile as he reported to TOC what happened.

"What do you mean, he already knows?" Mandy asked, clearly incredulous. Theresa was still pissed, and couldn't think of something smart to say.

"Okay, look, what I mean is that the guy we came here to get talked to the acting ambassador Crowley today, right? He told him that he wasn't gonna leave." Jason was telling Mandy as the rest of his team got into the vehicle.

Mandy scoffed, "Son of a-"

"Yeah." Jason agreed. "All right, also, did he send us here to kidnap him? Because I'm telling you right now that's not gonna happen, all right? These people, they know the risks. They're willing to take it, and they're not going anywhere."

Mandy understood what he was saying. "They say they don't want to go, we can't take them. Problem is, now you're a couple hours deeper in the bush and it's a couple hours closer to nightfall. Protests are turning violent nationwide."

"Well, don't worry about us. We're heading back to you now." Jason told her as he got into the car.

"Okay, drive fast. Things are only getting worse." Mandy said right before she keyed out.

Jason looked at Trent, "Floor it."

"Copy that." Trent replied as he started the car and reversed out of the Aid Center.

Time passed and it was nightfall by time they reached the first checkpoint they passed after the American school earlier that day. Theresa was in the back once again, this time out of choice and she wasn't lying down. If she needs to shoot someone, this would give her the best vantage point as opposed to firing a weapon from in between Sonny and Brock – she could do it easily, but why not use the even easier road?

Besides, this way she doesn't blow either of their eardrums out.

"This doesn't look good." Sonny noted as he looked at the new faces guarding the checkpoint.

"Yeah, these definitely aren't the guys who waved us through earlier today." said Jason.

Sonny leaned forward as he looked at them, "Ah, these guys don't look political. They look more like bandits."

"A Sudanese Rebel Leader and his merry band of morons." Theresa commented, MP7 resting on her lap and her Glock by her side, gaining snickers from her team.

"We don't know who they are yet. But it looks like they shot those guards." Jason stated. He looked at the men at the checkpoint, then addressed his team. "Anyone goes for the DShK, shoot 'em in the face." The whole of Bravo looked at the men who started to circle them. Jason, "Call your shots. He's mine."

"Left near. Right far." Sonny stated.

"I'll take the two behind us." Theresa said as she turned around, looking through the glass that wasn't broken yet, eyeing the men walking behind the SUV.

One of the men in front of the vehicle shouted at them, "Step out now!"

Sonny spotted one of the men trying to sneak to their most dangerous weapon. "The DShK."

"On me." Jason told them and as soon as he fired the first shot, Theresa took out the two men behind them, the glass of the back window shattering. Gunfire roared through the air and when most of the men were taken out, Jason ordered Trent to drive. "Go."

Trent hit the gas hard and drove into the vehicles barricading the road, hitting the vehicles out of the way. One of the burning barrels fell over, the burning mess falling onto the road. One of the men who survive kept shooting at them, until he dropped to the ground with a bullet from Theresa's gun in his heart.

"Anybody hit?" Jason asked when they were a distance away from the checkpoint, the gunfire having stopped.

Theresa, "Nope."

Sonny answered for him and Brock, "We're good."

Trent, "I'm good."

"Okay."Jason then turned his head around to look at his youngest member. "Tessa?"

"Fine." Theresa answer as she spun back to face her team.

Jason's eyebrows rose, "You sure? Because you didn't know after getting hit on the Centaurus."

"Yes!" Theresa exclaimed, more than a little exasperated. "Christ, is this going to follow me until I retire?"

"Probably." Sonny answered with a slight grin.

a/n: i know you guys have probably heard this plenty of times, but stay safe people. also, i hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	18. Irreversibly So

**Chapter Eighteen : Irreversibly So**

If it could be accomplished, Theresa never wanted to come back to what would be left of South Sudan once they leave in her life ever again. She's been in shithole's all over the world, almost died more times than the amount of years she's old, but this place made her feel praticularly unnerved.

For a while, they had Ray and Lisa guiding them through the mess that has only gotten worse with each passing minute. Then the convoy that would take the embassy personel to the airport arrived and Bravo had to make it back to the airfield by themselves, which wouldn't be so difficult if they didn't run into protesters at every twist and turn. Sonny and Brock also had to team up and pulled her from the back to inbetween them when the back window was hit out and a the glass shattered all over Theresa. Luckily, she closed her eyes and no glass got into her eyes, but the force of the blast and the little proximity between her and the window cause that some of the shards of glass to hit her face, leaving little scrapes all over her face. Theresa didn't care, they would heal and not even scar when they do.

Shouting and screaming was still heard all around, some English but mostly Sudanese that Theresa didn't understand a word of. Give her Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai or even Hawaiian, and she's your girl, but Theresa could fully admit Sudanese is not her strong suit. Or any other language that isn't the above mentioned.

All in all, Theresa concluded, this mission wasn't that bad - once you looked past the shitty situation they were in (which Trent was getting them out of with his superior driving skills as they were well on their way to the airport where they woul board the plane and finally go home) and that ignorant idiot Crowley (who eventually ordered the evacuation before there was any casualties, so Theresa could finally let her anger towards him go).

Then Jason's sat phone rang.

"What do you mean, he left you?" Jason asked, voice full of disbelief, worry and barely concealed anger. Theresa's stomach twisted violently, because in no universe could those seven words mean anything even remotely good.

It was quiet for a few seconds, the person on the line answering before Jason spoke again, "You got to be kidding."

"All right, we're coming for you." Jason said, turning his head to Trent. "Back to the embassy." He ordered Bravo Four, who immediately turned around and made his way to the embassy.

"What's wrong, Jay?" Trent was the one to ask, before any of the other's could.

"That was Davis. Crowley left her and Ray behind at the embassy.

"He fucking _what_?" Sonny exploded, lurching forward in his seat.

"I'm going to cut his face of with my sharpest knife." Theresa threatened, voice dangerously low. Brock cast his best friend a wary glance, eyes full of murderous intent, and he would have felt sorry for Crowley. If he didn't leave two of his team mates behind, but as it so happens, he did leave one of them behind and Brock couldn't wait to see what Theresa had in store for the man. (Silently he hoped that she wouldn't really cut his face off, because that would just be super gross. The canine handler wasn't that worried, Jason would stop her before before she gets to that point. Hopefully.)

"Yeah, don't worry, we're gonna go get them." Jason told Sonny, trying to settle him. He turned and looked at Theresa over his shoulder. And Tessa, you're not cutting anyone's face off, alright?" Silence was his only answer. "Theresa Kane." There was a warning and unspoken order in his tone that Theresa knew all to well.

She huffed in response and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, I won't cut his face off."

The rest of the drive back to the embassy was spent in a tense silence, all five of the Bravo members concerned for the well being of their teammates. Bravo arrived at embassy, but went to the building across the street. It was to dangerous to try and go inside using the front and back entrances because it was packed with protestors, who would surely kill Bravo. While they aren't afraid of dying and knowing that death could come for them at any given moment, they also know that they would avoid it for as long as possible.

Theresa mentally did a count of the weapons that she had on her. Most of her knives, her rifle and two extra Glock's were in her weapons bag that she left at the embassy earlier. All she had on her were an MP-7 and five mags of ammunition for it that was in the backpack by Sonny's feet, a Glock - her extra mags for her gun was in her weapons bag, eight knives; one on the inside of each combat boot and six to the body knife sheath strapped around her torso. Suddenly she wished she wore cargo pants instead of skinny jeans so that she could have taken more ammo with her.

Briefly she wondered what happened to her two bags but then dismissed the thought. She could replace everything inside it - clothes, knives, ammo, rifle and her two Glocks. She couldn't, however, replace Lisa and Ray that easily.

"Davis, we're going to secure an observation post across from the embassy. Stand by." Jason said once the woman picked up his call as Trent parked the SUV and they got out of the vehicle. As they entered the building, Jason gave his orders. "Four and Five, cover the ground floor, take out anyone that tries to come in here. Three and six, with me."

Theresa frowned a little at being seperated from Brock and Trent as she followed Jason and Sonny up the nearest stair case. Normally they'd be pair together according to their numbers, Jason and Ray, Sonny and Trent, Brock and Theresa. Before Nate died, he, Jason, Ray and Sonny swapped around a lot. Trent, Brock and Theresa always stuck together, providing overwatch, protecting Bravo One through Four's' six. Sometimes, like back in Iran, Theresa would be paired with Jason, but not often and not without reason.

Which is why this made her frown, but she followed without question, knowing her Boss has a reason for everything he does.

What Theresa doesn't know - and won't ever know - is that Jason wants to keep her near him, knowing that when it comes to her team, her family, she doesn't compromise, doesn't make exceptions and doesn't neccesarily listen to Jason. Okay, sure, not trusting and forgiving Mandy isn't exactly disobeying him, but still. Who knows what she'd do when she lays eyes on that idiot Crowley. He needs her near so he can reign her fiery, and lethal, temper in.

"Sonny, Tessa, watch the window." Jason ordered, pointing to the lone window on the first floor of the building that looks out on the embassy across the street. The two each took a knee in front of the window, looking for any signs that the group at the front gates were about to jump the gate.

Sonny, who was smart enough to take his rifle with him when they left the embassy earlier, looked down at the ground through his scope. Theresa, who only had her MP-7, watched through the much smaller but no less effective scope, eyes widening at the sight, jaw dropping a little.

"I can't be seeing this right." Theresa squinted to make sure. "Is that dumbass really making a Molotov right now?"

"No, I see it too, little lady." Sonny assured her before calling out to Jason. "Hey Boss."

"No, Sonny, you can't put a bullet in his brain."

"Heart would work too." Sonny muttered to himself, and Theresa snorted, but worry still pulled at stomach. If that crow breached the perimeter, then Lisa and Ray- no. Nope. She is not going to think of that. Jason is going to come up with a plan, and they are going to get Lisa and Ray out of there safely.

"Jace, what's the plan?" Theresa asked, steady voice not betraying any of her inner turmoil.

"I'm thinking Tessa." Jason said, voice void of any emotions as his mind raced with possiblities. He has not yet thought of a positive one that ends with all of them coming out alive.

"I really can't smoke this idiot with the Molotov?" Sonny asked, just to be sure.

Jason thought about it, "Tell you what. If it looks like he's about to throw it at someone, shwack him."

"What if I thought he was gonna throw it?" Sonny questioned out loud, the screaming and shouting outside loud and clear even from inside the building their were in.

Theresa pressed her comms. "Hey Davis, Ray, tell me something: how's the weather down there?"

Inside the embassy, the two Bravo members couldn't help but look at each other and exchange a smile, knowing that this was Theresa's way of asking if they're okay. Ray grinned as he answered, "Aw, you know Tessa, hot and humid, although the heat's getting a little uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I hear you, brother." Theresa nodded to herself, understanding what he was really saying. He was worried about how much longer the gates would keep the protestors out. "Listen, Jace is working on a plan to get you out as we speak."

"I know." Ray really did know and silence fell over them once more.

"We made a friend." Lisa announced out of nowhere.

Theresa frowned, "What kind of a friend?"

"The vulture kind." Ray answered for Lisa, using the term favourited by their youngest team member.

Theresa pulled a sour face, "Lisa, why on earth would you make friends with a reporter?"

"Technically, he is Ray's friend." The petty officer answered, a slight hint of amusement in her tone.

"Ray?" Theresa questioned, more to keep the conversation going and to keep their minds occupied than for any other reason.

"Well, I saw him unconsious but alive right before the convoy's left, and I couldn't just leave him for dead." Their Second-in-Command answered.

"Our very own good Samaritan." Sonny quipped. "So proud of you, Ray."

"He left the flag." Jason announced, interrupting their conversation, then repeated his statement. "He left the flag."

"Crowley?" Sonny asked rhetorically. "He also left two of our people."

"Yeah, we've already established he's a dick." Theresa deadpanned, voice flatter than the horizon.

"Tessa." Jason reprimanded out of habit.

"What? It's true." The woman in question shrugged unapologetically. "Anyway, how does that help us? What, are we gonna take the flag down and surrender or something?"

"Not us, Davis." Jason answered and Theresa's eyes widened. She was just throwing an idea out there, not serious for even a second. Jason pressed his comms. "I think I got a way to get you guys out." The Master Chief immediately gained everyone's full attention.

"We could use one." Lisa admitted.

"Okay, first, I need you to tell Ray how to get to the control panel that operates the front gate. Then I got a job for you." Jason said then explained the plan to them, which Theresa thought was stupid, but if it worked, then they would get the three of them out safely.

"I'm at the front gate control." Ray told them after a minute or two.

"All right. Davis is on the roof." Jason, who kept his eyes nailed to the roof, said. Theresa and Sonny were both tempted to watch as Lisa took down the flag but knew they had to keep their eyes on the protestors, just in case one of them got a not so smart idea or pulled a hidden gun out from somewhere to shoot Lisa with.

"Want me to press it?" Ray asked, the shouting increasing as the protestors spotted Lisa on the roof.

"No, no, not yet." Jason denied and when the shouting and cheering raised in volume, the female Seal watching through her scope as the rowdy crowd went nuts,Theresa knew Davis was taking their flag down and raising the Sudanese one. "Press it." He ordered the second the Sudanese flag was up.

"They'll rush the front entrance. Meet you in the rear." Jason said and keyed out. He looked at Sonny and Theresa, who rose from their kneeling positions in front of the window when Ray opened the gate. "Let's go get them."

The two didn't need to be told twice as they booked it the hell out of there, eager to get to the car and pick up there remaining two team mates. Once downstairs, Jason gave Trent his intructions and the man drove like a madman to get to the back of the embassy.

They rounded the corner into the back street of the embassy with screeching tires. Sonny, Brock and Theresa got out of the SUV, MP-7's raised at the men who was approaching Lisa, Ray and the reporter they saved. They run once they saw they were severely out gunned. Brock, the injured reporter and Lisa got into the backseats, while Sonny, Theresa and Ray sat in the boot, guns raised and ready to shoot anyone who comes near their vehicle.

"Go, go, go!" Sonny said once the back door was shut. Trent floored it again, intent on getting his team to the airfield safety and without anymore complications. "Good to see you, Davis." The Texan drawled.

Lisa glanced over her shoulder at him, smiled when she saw him looking out of what had once been a window with Theresa and Ray. "Good to be seen." She admitted.

Finally the invisible noose around Theresa's neck loosened and a wave of relief washed her worry and fear away as she settled inbetween Sonny and Ray.

**SEAL TEAM**

Trent didn't slow down until they were at the airfield. All of Bravo, save for Trent, got out of the SUV as one of the Marine's on the airfield guided Trent onto the plane. Sonny, surprisingly, was the one who exploded first, Theresa the picture of calm. He stomped to the man, fury written all over his face, Theresa lingering in the back "Well, look who we got here. Hey, Crowley, how you doing, buddy? Can I get yourself a beer?" He was stopped and pulled away by Trent and Eric. "You weasel!" He spat as they pulled him away.

Jason walked to Crowley calmly, Theresa walked on the other side of the vehicle, knowing she'd grab him by the throat if she walked past him. Jason's voice was calm when he spoke, "Got something for you."

"Yeah, what's that?" Crowley asked tiredly, and Theresa scoffed as she reached the front of the vehicle, now directly across from the man who left two of her team members behind.

Jason handed him the flag, "Must have left it behind on accident."

Then everyone turned their gaze to the youngest member of Bravo, the only one who hasn't said or done anything but everyone expected her to. She looked at Crowley silently, a deadly glower on her face, everyone more than a little worried. Not even Jason knew what she was going to do. Or when.

"Weasel?" Theresa spat, finally breaking the silence. "More like a motherfucking coward." Before anyone could react or stop her, she pulled two knives from the sheath strapped to her torso and launched them at Crowley, one a milimeter from his neck. The other one - only one that actually hit him - nicked his ear just a little, causing the man to yelp.

"Are you crazy?" Crowley screeched as he clutched at his ear, shooting to his feet. "You could have killed me."

"Just like those protestors could have killed a man and woman I consider my family. How does it feel, huh? Knowing that you are surrounded by people who can and want to kill you?" Theresa asked, stepping closer and closer to the man. Suddenly an arm wrapped around her collarbones and waist from behind, pulling her away from the man.

"Did you see that? She is out of her mind! Completely out of control. I want to lodge a complaint." Crowley raged on.

"Oh, pipe down. Theresa is the best knifeman, woman, on our base, maybe even the entire Navy. If she was aiming to kill you, you'd be dead without any of us fast enough to stop her." Eric said with a light scoff to his words as Brock let his grip around her slack.

"Crazy is what she is. I had no choice, I had to think of all the lives around me. A Tier One Operator and a Petty Officer, in the grand scheme of things, isn't really to be compared to all the lives saved today." Crowley went on and Theresa saw _red_.

"Did you just call Ray and Lisa **_expendable_**?" Theresa asked, fury clear in her words as she ripped out of Brock's loose hold, right before she pulled two more knives, this time aiming to hit him somewhere non-fatally.

"Theresa Kane, **stop**." The steely voice made her stop her movements as if someone pressed a freeze button. She glared furiously at Crowley, hands gripping her knives; one aimed at his shoulder, the other at his thigh. Eric walked until he was in front of her, blocking Crowley from her view. He held his hands out. "Hand them over." She made to protest. "Now." Sighing in defeat she gave Blackburn her two knives. "All of them." Sighing once more she pulled the remaining two knives from her body sheath and handed them over. Eric gave her an unimpressed stare. "I said: _all of them_." Theresa scoffed, but crouched down to pull the two knives out of boots and dutifully handed them over. "Thank you." He gave her a grin as she pushed to her feet.

She pouted, arms crossing over her chest. "This is completely unnecessary."

Eric hummed in satisfaction as he looked at the sharp knives, the shift from dangerous protector to obedient subordiant was both comforting and amusing to him - also somewhat overwhelming, because he was only one of two people in this world who could order her like this and have her actually _listen_. "Whatever you say, little one."

Eric walked away and Theresa glared at Crowley once more, who was gaping in shocked silence. How the hell did the beared man get this clearly crazy and untamed woman to hand over her weapons? And how did he stop her with one command?

Brock walked up to his best friend, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her away, grateful and relieved when she went willingly. Just because she wasnt actively trying to hit him or throw anymore knives, doesn't mean she cant change her mind in an instant. That didn't mean she wasn't angry anymore, oh no, because she was and her team mates heard all about it.

"I'm telling you the only thing that saved his ugly ass face is the fact that their both okay. Not even Jason would have been able to stop me if something happened to them." Her heated, but extremely serious words left even her team mates in shock.

A few minutes later, Eric walked up to where Bravo was standing by themselves, completely away from all other company on the plane. Which, going from the anger still burning brightly in Theresa's eyes, was probably for the best. The Commander looked at his team, "We take off in thirty minutes."

Theresa nodded before walking away from her team.

Jason looked at her retreating form, "Where are you going?"

"Blow off some steam." She answered over her shoulder.

Theresa walked down the tarmac, pulling out her elastic band and shaking her head upside down, getting rid of the glass fragments that she couldn't remove earlier after the window broke. She tied it back and started running around the C-17 at full speed. She didn't care about how the Marines were giving her funny looks or about what the civillians from the embassy thinks, right now she needs to run some of her anger off, especially if she was going to be confined to a plane with that idiot for more than half a day.

She just finished her fifteenth lap when she saw a familiar, but strangely not unwelcome figure waiting at the foot of the tarmac. Theresa slowed to a jog and stopped in front of the woman, chest heaving and heart beating erratically from all the running. She took the offered bottle of water with a breathless, "Thanks."

Theresa downed the bottle, capped it and fiddled with it as she stared at the slightly taller woman. She didn't want to fight. All of her anger and most of her energy has burnt out. "Heard you got Crowley to order the evac."

"Yeah."Mandy nodded, fidgeting with her blazer.

"Good job." Theresa said sincerely. She may not like the CIA Agent, but Alana and Jason worked hard to install manners in her as she only knew how to fight and run when they first met her, so she can give credit where its due.

"Thanks." Mandy allowed herself a smile, feeling stupidly pleased by the compliment. Theresa was both younger and much less exprienced in the field as her - so why did her approval matter so much?

_Because she matters to Bravo and she matters to you, just like the rest of them,_ a voice in her head whispered the answer.

"Why are you here?" Theresa asked, gesturing to herself with the plastic bottle.

"I have your knives. I mean, when we evacuated, I took them with me and asked some of the staff to pick up the rest of Bravo's things, but I took your knives. I know how you are about them. I didn't touch them, and I didn't let anyone else touch them either. They're with Eric right now, he said I can't give them to you yet, so yeah. That's it. That's what I wanted to say." Mandy rambled all in one breath, completely out of charater from the composed and emotionless Agent, turning around to head back into the plane.

"Thank you." Theresa called after her, causing the woman to stop and turn back to her.

"You're welcome." Mandy nodded. Mandy bit the inside of her cheek, eyes looking out to the night sky. I know I broke your trust with the mission in Iran." She started out of nowhere, looking back at Theresa, causing the youngest woman to tense at the sudden shift in topic. "And I've said sorry so many times that I lost count. I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I have given you time in which I thought you would let it go, but you still haven't forgiven me. I just . . . I need to know if there is ever a chance for you to forgive me and trust me again."

Theresa looked at her for a long time. Long enough for Mandy to start thinking that with that one screw up, she screwed up forever. Eventually, the female Seal spoke. "Maybe. I'm not promising you anything, or anytime soon for that matter, but I'm not saying no either."

Mandy hid a smile as Theresa walked past her up the tarmac, heading to Jason, who was standing inside the plane, watching them. This was much better than the harsh words and glares when she usually tried to fix what she broke with that shit show of a mission in Iran that nearly killed both Jason and Theresa. For the first time in over a year, Mandy felt a little better about this particular subject. Maybe there was hope for the broken friendship between her and Theresa yet.

"Aw, look at you. Making friends and playing nice. I'm so proud of you." Jason slung an arm around her shoulder, pulling out her hair tie and ruffling her short hair fondly.

"Shut up." She laughed, the last of her tension vanishing as she grabbed back her elastic band.

**SEAL TEAM**

The plan ride was fine, seeing as Theresa got into her hammock and fell asleep as soon as they got onto the plan and only woke three hours before they landed. She spent those three hours at the back of the plane talking with Jason, who told her that he finally decided and was going to see the woman from Nate's phone. She wouldn't lie and say that her fingers doesn't still itch to knock Crowley on her ass, but she could honestly and confidently say that the closer to home (read: to Spenser) she was getting, the more it didn't matter to her anymore. Everyone was safe and Theresa was going to let it go.

The female Seal was more than a little proud of herself. This was personal growth, in her books.

Theresa now had a different kind of energy making her jittery as the C-17 landed back home. It was excitement and joy mixed into one.

Sonny frowned at her, wary of his team mate. He didn't understand the mood swing from murderous fury to giddy joy. "Brock, why is she smiling like that?"

"Do I look like a mind reader to you?" Brock deadpanned, fixing the Texan with a blank look.

"No, but you are a better Tessa-reader than any of us." Sonny shrugged as an interested Trent looked at Brock as well.

Brock snickered at his words, but walked closer to his two team members, not wanting Theresa to hear him and smack him upside the head. "Best guess, she's excited to see Spenser again."

"Seriously?" Trent asked as he snorted so hard his shoulders shook, laughing even more when he saw Sonny's face.

"Yeah," Brock nodded. "Remember how she was so pissy on the first flight? Well, she said it's because she didn't see Spenser before she left for the mission, so I guess she missed him and wants to see him."

"If he breaks her heart, I'm going to break his little twig neck." Sonny warned with a firm scowl on his face.

Twenty minutes later, Theresa was walking through the hallways, with a smile that left everyone in her wake dumbstruck, when she heard the first whisper. A member of Green team had died in one of the HALO jumps due to a faulty shoot. Theresas entire world came to a screeching halt. Her smile dropped, her chest felt tight, her breathing uneven. She blindly made her way to Bravos cage room, relying on muscle memory.

The moment she stumbled through the doors her whole team was all around her, concern on all of their faces. Brock had ordered Cerberus, who greeted them all on the plane, to go lie down on his bed in his master's cage, because he was all around everyone's legs.

Theresa could could see their concern, could hear their voices, but she couldn't concenrate it, the squeezing feeling around her heart worsening with every second that passed.

"What did you eat?" Trent asked calmly, allergic reaction being his first guess.

"Does she need a shot?" Sonny asked worriedly, already walking to his cage to get one of the two shots of epinephrine he keeps on him in case of emergency.

"No, she's not having an allergic reaction." Jason shook his head. He knew what anaphylactic shock looks like. He's only seen her having an attack once, after those damned cookies Alana baked with the nut extract, but it was enough. This is something else.

"Something like what?" Brock demanded frantically. He was always cool headed and unbothered, but he completely lost it when it came to his best friend. Cerberus was lying on his bed in Brock's cage, whining softly but cutting it out when Brock ordered him.

"Come on, Trent, what's wrong with her?" Ray pressed.

"Quiet!" Trent commanded and all of Bravo did as told. He lead Theresa to the table in the middle of the room an helped her up on it. "Tessa, you need to breathe." Again, she heard him, but couldn't process his words or act on them. He looked at Jason, eyes flickering restlessly from his boss to his distraught friend. "Jay, I don't know how to help her. She needs to calm down and slow her breaths before she passes out."

Jason took over from Trent, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, hey, Tessie. Hey, you hear me?" He spoke softly, just like when she was fourteen and couldn't calm down after waking up from a nightmare. Finally, she gave a miniscule nod. Her eyes cleared a little and Jason knew he finally had her attention. "Okay, Tessie, I need you to breath. Can you do that for me? Come on, breathe with me. Just follow me." Jason mimicked exaggerated breaths, which she slowly started to follow. "Thats it. In out, in out, in out. He lightly rubbed her arms up and down, in sync with their breaths.

When her breathing evened out, he dared to asked, "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Greenie died. Faulty chute." That was all she could get out before her eyes blurred with tears, images of a dead and bloodied Spenser dominating in her mind, and her breath picked up again.

Jason looked around to his brothers faces, took another look at Theresa then giving Ray a pointed look before the Senior Chief left. He needed Ray to find out who it was that died. (And if Ray prayed, crossed his fingers and hoped to God above that it wasn't Clay Spenser, then the world would never know. Maybe just his wife.)

Inside the equipment cages, Jason couldn't get Theresa to calm down again. Not Brock or Sonny or Trent either. Trent was starting to worry that she would go into shock and suffer from a heart attack if she ditdnt start to calm down soon.

"What's wrong with her?" Sonny asked Trent quietly, watching as Brock just held on to his trembling best friend that struggled to catch her breath, eyes shining with unshed tears, gripping his t-shirt so tightly her knuckles was snow white.

Jason stood by, has never felt more helpless in his entire life than he did right now.

"I think she's having a panic attack." Trent ventured, more than a little sure.

Sonny's brows dipped, "Why?"

"Because she thinks S5pensers the one who died." Trent answered just as quietly.

Sonny's eyes widened and everything suddenly made sense. "It's not him, right?"

"I don't know. None of us knows, Sonny. That's the problem and what Ray went to find out. I don't wish death upon anyone, but I really wish that it was someone else." Trent explained.

"Yeah." Jason nodded. His fatherly instincts was screaming at him to help her. But he couldn't. Nothing could help her, but the knowledge and confirmation that it wasn't Spenser who died. And none of them could give her that. What the hell was taking Ray so long? Jason froze as a terrible thought took ahold of him. What if it is Spenser who died?

He looked at Theresa and Brock. If this is how she looks just suspecting it is Spenser who died, what will she look like if Ray came back and told them it was Spenser that died? He really didnt want to see Theresa break. Or pass out — with how pale she is, its not a complete impossibility. Or turn into a raging bull.

Finally, Ray returned and shook his head no. All of them immediately knew it wasn't Spenser that passed away and audible sighs of relief left all of them.

"Tessa, look at me, listen to me." Brock's stern but clearly relieved voice slowly broke through her clouded mind. "It's not Spenser that died. Clay Spenser is a alive and breathing. Okay?" Theresa look up at him.

"Alive?" The word was drenched with hope and all of the pain she felt. Brock nodded and she sagged against him in relief, tears falling from her eyes as her breathing finally started to even out slowly.

Brock rubbed her back soothingly through it all, thinking to himself that he was wrong. So completely and totally very wrong. Theresa doesnt like Clay Spenser. She's in love with him. Irreversibly so.

**SEAL TEAM**

Theresa was thinking that maybe she has to come to terms with the fact that she likes Clay Spenser a whole lot more than she thought. Or wants to admit to herself. She knew that he was somewhere on base, this was the Navy, you don't get home because one of your friends die. You push forward and go on. The Greenies, however, were given a day off from training, but she knew Spenser was still on base. She already checked the parking lot.

Yes, Theresa was looking for Clay Spenser. And she would turn this whole base upside down doing so if she had to.

After calming down from her panic attack over the thought of possibly losing the blonde, Theresa knew she would have to do some serious self reflection.

Right after she comforted Spenser a little. How exactly, Theresa had no idea but she is a woman on a mission and nothing is going to get in her way of completing it. When she finally stopped crying, wiped her snot and tears and splashed her face with cold water, Ray told her that while it wasn't Clay who died, it was his friend Brian. Theresa all but flew out of the equipment room, not even giving them an excuse.

The female Seal knew her cheeks and red eyes gave her earlier crying away, but she couldn't care less. Not when Clay was out here somewhere on this base, hurting.

Finally, she found him out back, leaning against the wall, eyes closed as he stood in the sun.

Theresa found herself nervous as her eyes ran over his face. What was she going to say to him? How would she make this better? How can she make this easier? She swallowed thickly, turned around and started walking away. This was a stupid idea. She can't help him. They aren't friends. Clay wouldn't want her help or comfort. The first time they ate together was because he wanted to help her when she was shot and the second time because he needed to vent about his father. They are nothing more than superior and subordinate.

She's always known it and liked even, because Spenser is to cocky for his own good and needs someone to knock him down a few pegs. But right now, for the first time since they met, the fact made her feel nothing but bitterness towards the boundries her rank put between her and Spenser.

Before she could delve any deeper into her thoughts - _mostly into the **why**, why did she have a panic attack at the thought of Clay dying? why doesn't she want boundries between them? what does she want instead?_ \- a grief struck voice called her name. "Tessa?"

Theresa's shoulders tensed as she stopped in her tracks, back shooting ramrod straight. Ever so slowly, she turned back to face the blonde, who looked at her with expressive blue eyes that caught her attention the day they first met. Breath catching in her throat, she just stared at him.

"Sorry, I mean, Four." Spenser corrected with wide eyes once he realised what he called her, eyes dropping down to his boots.

"It's okay." Theresa said, the words slipping out without her permission. Still, she meant it all the same. Right now, they weren't Superior and Subordinate, they were just Tessa and Clay. But when he looked up at her, eyes surprised and warm, she panicked and blurted, "But just this once."

Clay's face fell a little, and Theresa felt bad, but couldn't take her words back. "Thanks, I guess."

"I heard about what happened. About Brian, I mean." Theresa said, pausing when Clay's eyes flashed up to hers again. "I . . . My condolences. I know he was your friend."

"Yeah," Clay breathed shakily. "He was my friend. Best friend, actually."

Theresa winced. She couldn't imagine ever losing Brock. She'd loose her marbles, for sure.

Theresa swallowed as she saw the sadness crashing over his face, shoulders slumping forward. She wants to comfort him so, _so_ badly, but she doesn't know how. She thought about it so hard, then a light went off in her brain. But she couldn't do it out here, where everyone could see. Not that she particularly cares about what anyone thinks of her, but Spenser might and his already shaky reputation doesn't need any negative rumors attached to it.

"Come with me." Theresa said before turning away, remembering a blind spot she discovered years ago when mapping out and memorizing the base back in her Green days.

"Where?" Clay asked, but followed her anyway. "A supply closet?" He asked with a confused frown when she stopped in front of one and gestured proudly to it.

Theresa flicked a tongue over her teeth and rolled her eyes. She opened the door, looked up and down the hallway and grabbed his wrist, pulling him inside when she found it deserted. "Yes, a supply closet, but also a blind spot hallway. A blind spot is a place where there is no cameras."

A ghost of a smile pulled over Clay's lips, "I know what a blind spot is. What I don't know is why we're here."

"So I can do _this_ without anyone seeing and starting rumors." She answered as if it was obvious.

"Do what?" Clay was so very confused, but it all cleared up when thin but surprisingly strong arms wrapped around him. Clay didn't take long to reciprocate, gripping her tightly as his sadness and grief hit him anew, but with more force than before as he finally let himself cry.

Theresa hugged him tightly, standing on her tiptoes to rest her chin on his shoulder. When she felt his shoulders starting to shake, she rubbed up and own his back, hoping to Heaven and back that it would help. Just a little bit.

Whenever she's sad or upset, Jason or Alana would always hug her until she felt better. Sometimes they'd hug for hours and she'd always feel better after a hug. This was all Theresa knew, the only way she knew how to comfort. And if this helps Clay, then she'd give it to him.

For however long he wants, until he lets go.

**A/N:** how come my chapters always turn out so much longer than i intended? **le sigh**

okay, so let's pretend their comms worked while only across the street from each other. that's not unrealistic, right?

what do you think about theresa slowly fixing things with mandy?

also, theresa's knowledge of languages will be explained later on in the story - i chose each language for a spesific reason. it is part of my plotline and will be explained in due time. also, my google search history right now is looking so strange. looking up languages, countries, different types of martial arts certain countries are known for, types of guns and knives - you'd think i was planning on commiting murder and then fleeing the country - not that i'd currently be able to go anywhere. oh well, **shrugs**, it keeps me busy in this stupid quarantine.

thank you for the comments - i love them all.

p.s. sorry for the angst.


End file.
